I am now a believer. I`e finally been baptised by an “older” champagne that I actually enjoyed; in fact, it may be one of the best champagnes I’ve ever had.
Our blind wine tasting group recently held its almost annual Valentine/ champagne event at our usual venue, in the barrel room of the Santa Barbara Winery. All members are free to invite as many guests as they want and everyone is to bring an appetizer to share along with a vintage champagne.
Over fifty of us drank well and enough over the course of the 2+ hour event which was held early enough for those who desire to move on to dinner having time to do so.
One of the numerous bottles got my attention in particular as it was being removed from its carrying case. It got more of my attention upon tasting it:
1982 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL BRUT- 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. 20% of the wine was aged in oak; after seeing the vintage, Im skeptical about the color before its unpacked, but then it easily apparent we have a viable bottle here as it was not the gold brown I`ve gotten before; the nose had honeysuckle, citrus and honeyed, slightly nutty baked apple notes and the taste profile also included honeyed lemon merengue that was emulated in the texture; it was full bodied, rich and luscious and just glided over the palate to the back end building up a crescendo before reaching a grand climax.
To Francois, Ray and all of you who have written glorious notes about aged champagnes, I get it, although this was not from 1912 or 1927 as some of yours have been. In fact, this may have been a youngster in your eyes, but for me it was a magnificent demonstration of relative maturity with perhaps another 5 years to still reach its apogee.
I agree with your assessment about '82 Cristal being around five years away from its apogee. I think many of the best Champagnes from '82 have just entered their tertiary stage and will stay there for the next decade plus.
The 1982 Cristal and the 1985 Krug-Clos du Mesnil are the finest vintage champagnes I’ve ever had the privilege to drink, including D/P and D/P rose from the sixties. Absolutely stunning!
What are the future 1982s of later vintages? At age 37, it’s a considerable time investment, considering your potential survival!
Of course, this maturity curve creates significant demand, extremely limited availability and risk, ultimately!
I’ve had the 85` Krug CdM many years ago and loved it then, but it was a “pup”. I’ve also had some of the Ups from the 60s and 70s, but they were also part of a young litter. This was the first time I’ve ever had a Grande Marques with any age that wasn’t just oxidized into a similar profile of nutty caramel and butterscotch with no real discernible characteristics. This bottle was against all odds in my relative experience.
If you ever run across it, 1976 Dom Perignon is another great aged Champagne (though I drank it a while back so I’m not so sure what it would be like now). I was skeptical when I got a couple of bottles at auction, but they weren’t particularly expensive, so I thought it worth the gamble. Great stuff! Loved both of them, would like to have some now but the price is now about $600.
Another great old Champagne is 1967 Cristal, which I’ve had a couple of times because it’s a friend’s wife’s birth year. Still excellent, though the bubbles are subdued.
Sorry I missed the '82 Cristal! Not in SB at the time.
Hi Larry, the 76` DP is one of those I was alluding too above. It came as part of a 3 pack and I went for it and loved them all; however, many years ago when they were adolescents.
Re the 82` Cristal and bubbles, I failed to mention our bottle had bubbles; not as usual, but certainly enough to call it bubbly.
