I’ve bought and enjoyed Cristal but think they’ve hit a higher level past decade. Better viticulture and winemaking. 96 great. 08 stuns. I’ve read great info re 12. Tell me about 13 vs other vintages. What about the rosé.
Hard to find '08 right now at a decent price. Have been picking up some '12.
Kevin Shin @ Winovisor has the 2008 for $240 and the 2012 for $200.
but tell me about the wines. How is 13? Better than 12?
What makes you think that it is? Or, are you just putting a feeler out? Had my first bottle of the 2012 Saturday night with Crabmeat St. Francis and was mightily impressed. Much more approachable than the 2008 was at this stage.
I have no idea. Have 12 and am seeing 13 for sale, heard a rumor . . . wondering. Trying to get a thread going about Cristal. It’s getting better and better.
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A recent '05 showed well. '02 from Magnum last year was simply brilliant. Have had '08 a couple of times. Ridiculously young with tremendous cut.
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Don’t sleep on the 09. I love the 08 like everyone else, but it’s a long-termer. The 09 has been outright delicious every time I’ve had it. I bought 6 with a view to aging half of them, and I drank through them in about 6 months.
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Winesearcher shows 3 hits for the 2013, all on pre-arrival. Perhaps it has been released in Europe.
I’ve been looking into Cristal more since my wife loves Roderer NV. Haven’t bit the bullet on buying some bottles but based on 08 DP, I might have to find some 08 Cristal. I will be on the lookout for our anniversary year when it comes out.
You might want to consider the Roederer vintage Blanc de Blanc as an intermediate step.
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I personally can’t wait to someday try the '08 Cristal Rose - haven’t bought any yet (not sure why) - have some '12 Rose already though… A bottle of the '96 Cristal Rose last year was right up there in my top 5 or so champagne experiences.
Just recently picked up 04, 08 and 12 roses. Can’t wait to do a side by side.
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as a vintage, the producers I met and talked to two years ago really liked what 12 brought slightly more than what 13 brought. I’ve liked the handful of 13s I’ve had, but have generally preferred the cleaner fruit and precision of 12 Cotes de Blancs and a lot of Montagne de Reims pinot-based wines. The flip side here is with the 13 Cristal, they have another year with releasing as a fully organically farmed wine, so it will likely be a real winner when you check in on it.
Hopefully a Brad Baker-signal will go out with this thread.
This truly would be AWESOME 
!
Planning to do this summer - if people are in NYC could be a good offline
'09 Cristal was as good of a new release champagnes as I’ve had, but it, and a number of other '09s, seem to have gone a little dumb the last few years.
I have 5 mags of this and was thinking of popping one this summer for a special occasion. Do you think I should hold off and open something else instead?
I haven’t had it out of mag so I would just be speculating, but I don’t see a reason not to open it. The last bottle I had was still a good wine, just not quite what it was when I first had it right at release.
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John,
Unlike James, I’ve found the 2009’s drinking remarkably well for young Cristal, although my last bottle was January, so they could have shut down since them. I’ve seen that happen with other champagnes. The 2008 DP’s drank well for a while, then suddenly shut down from one month to the next.
I’ve finished a case of '09 Cristal in the last year, and all were extraordinary. It’s been the most approachable of recent vintages. Blake Brown, Yao C and others have posted positive notes this year. I guess it depends on how much you have, what alternatives are in the cellar, and how special the occasion is. That said, they’ll be much better in 5-10, likely longer for 1500’s.
I’d suggest monitoring the “what champagne are you drinking” thread. If it’s shut down, enough people drink and post that wine that you might find consensus (or as much consensus as is possible on WB which is likely not much)
Cheers,
Warren
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