Looks like '14 Cristal was released in the UK yesterday and the best price I saw was $270 US at current FX. I was told it was going to be released in the US in March or April and IIRC the US release price is typically about $50 - $70 more than UK. Flickinger is offering it pre-arrival for $335. That is about $100 increase over the first US pricing I saw for '08 when it was released, and '13 is still available in the states for $260/bottle. Falstaff rated it 100pts and The Buyer.net said it did not reach the symphonic heights of the '13. Unfortunately, no WK review - yet. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon described it as follows:
“It is showing a lot, 2014 is a very expressive wine – very complex fruit, flavours and richness of aromatics – but it has more freshness than 2012, more precise definition, more pixels in 14 than 12. It is a beautiful vintage and I have not seen this beauty when so young, I didn’t imagine it would show this so early from release.”
If I am reading between the lines correctly here, I believe he is saying it is better than '12, and I rank '12 behind '08 and '13 so maybe this fits between '13 and '12. Seems like the best trade at the moment would be to buy more '13 and wait and see if '14 sells at the current price. If the vintage charts are any indication, '15 should be a stellar wine and maybe priced accordingly.
Just got my first UK offer at £214. Agree that for a subpar vintage, release prices sure have shot up in the last year. I was also offered 60 bottles while I was lucky to get 6b '12 DP on release so that tells you something about how it’s selling.
I have seen it as low as £200, but the shops I typically buy from have not offered it yet. I lucked out with '12 DP and got half of what I asked for at the release price. '08 Comtes was tougher to get. Btw, I just received an email offer for '08 DP Legacy for $362/bottle.
I think I will eventually buy a couple of 6-packs, I own '04 Krug so why not '14 Cristal
That is what I was alluding to. I will have my updated opinion on the '04 Krug in a couple of days. I am not a big fan of '04 vintage in general. I like Comtes the best, but I prefer '08/'02/'06/'07 Comtes in that order.
I’m a big 04 Comtes fan, I almost always like it as much as or more than the 06 and sometimes the 02. I like some other 04s as well, especially for current drinking. But I am not a dismisser of vintages across the board, with few exceptions.
Our palates align. I love the ‘04 Comtes, and my order is ‘02, ‘04, 06, 07, 05 (haven’t opened an ‘08).
To drift back the the thread, the ‘14 Cristal will likely be my smallest purchase of Cristal, going back to ‘08 when I started expanding my acquisitions of these. The ‘13 was still attractive for the tariff, but the ‘14 is appearing less so if there’s a substantial price increase. It’s not as bad as the escalation of the ‘08 Krug, but even a compulsive champagne hound like me has his limits.
Cheers
Warren
