In oder to give others some notice of this recent release, I pulled out my notes on this from those being prepared for a great dinner a few days ago. As stated, it’s just too early to open it, but there will come a time when it shall be cherished.
2012 LOUIS ROEDERER CRISTAL- I just picked up 3 of 6 bottles I’ve ordered and was too curious to see what the potential was for this youngster so, here is the first trial; I guess I should have waited, but at least it is confirmed, it needs a lot of time; no question, this will be a good one as it has bright acidity, loads of fresh citrus with lemon lime most prominent and subtle accents of spice and toasty brioche; the fruit was a bit tart at first, but that dissipated; overall, it had an element of elegance, but just needs time to evolve, balance and flesh out and come together.
I’ve had 2 in the last few months and both were really good. beyond sort of.
BTW, I purposely left out the 08 above as the 3 bottles I've tried were very closed and shut ungiving, but unlike the 12, they possessed a very obvious amount of huge potential.
wow, y’all light your Cristal young. I’ve honestly never had a Cristal that was actually “mature”. The oldest I’ve had was the 95 and 97 a year or so ago, and they still felt young to me. I have a '90 and an '83 in my cellar. I’m hoping one of them may be mature. Although I had the '09 a while back and it was better than I would have expected at this point.
I don’t have a ton of experience with Cristal, but I can say that the 09 we had last year was one of the best champagnes I have had in recent memory and did not seem immature in the least.
I just had a magnum of the 83 this weekend. It was drinking exceptionally well. I’d drink the 83 from bottle sooner rather than later. The 90 on the other hand is great now, but has decades of evolution in front of it.
I agree with you on mags of the '83, but I’ve had at least a dozen bottles of '90 Cristal over the past couple of years that were already on their downslope. Several of which were purchased on release (albeit US sources, not from Europe).
