In my market cristal 04 has passed $200… But 2005 looks cheap on the national stage.
I read one note on this board it was aweful, but CT gives it a 91.
Thoughts? At 140, buy or go for more 2004 at a $60 bump?
I really struggle with 2005 as a worthwhile vitage year.
Paging Brad Baker
I had it at a recent tasting and it was dreadful, rotten on the nose and little on the palate. I think the 2005 vintage character could be turning out to be a personal sensitivity thing like 2004 Burgundy.
whew. almost pulled the trigger on that 139 price at PC!
Might have been a bad bottle or some other exogenous factor with Nick’s tasting. I’ve had it a half dozen times, have liked it each time, and keep buying more. Others with me have liked it as well. Particularly accessible for a youngster, which Is a plus at this price point. Pull the trigger!
I like 2005 Cristal. It is wide open and quite soft and fruity in character compared to most Cristal and especially the 2002 and 2004. While there is no problem with aging the 2005 Cristal, I’m not sure how much better it will get so I like drinking it now and over the next few years as other vintages mature. $140 is a good price.
As far as anything going rotten in the 2005 Cristal (or any other 2005 Roderer), I have never seen this. Of all producers, Roederer may have done the best job in 2005. They were the biggest and sometimes only voice screaming about the possibility of rot in the 2005 grapes and actually saw it in small doses in 2004 towards the south end of the Cote des Blancs. They prepared in 2005 and attempted to get the entire region via the CIVC to pay attention to it and only a few listened. If you did listen and looked for specifics in the wine, you could make decent 2005 wine - open, expressive, creamy, fruity, earlier drinking. After the 2005 vintage, folks listened and this helped to save the 2010 vintage. At it’s best, 2005 will never be a great vintage and it is weaker than most of the years of the decade, but good wine could be made and was made. Most of the mistakes I saw were by producers who ignored the advice, didn’t sort all that well, or didn’t have the means or care to fully dive into testing the
wines.
The other interesting thing on the 2005s and part of the problem I had withe folks jumping on the rotten bandwagon early on is that many of the wines are still changing quite a bit. While many wines from this year will have an earthy, green like streak in them, the stinky, mushroomy character that many have found has actually gone away in a number of wines and in other wines, it has gone in and out. Interestingly, this was the case with some of the still wines this year too. I don’t think we have seen exactly where some of the wines in this vintage are going and it is definitely a year to taste before buying.
Thanks Brad!
That deal is dead… Me and my big mouth
The 2005 is absolutely fantastic now. I am not sure that it will stay as it is today, but for the moment, it is an exciting champagne.
It could happen that it closes in one or two years, and that it broadens in five or six years.
It is a very unconventional Cristal that I love.
Charlie, I saw that too, but it was on futures and Im a little hesitant to buy futures. I did get 4 bottles of the 05 from a local guy for $165 total who got it from a restaurant at “wholesale”. Well taste one this Friday along with 00, 02 and 04.
Blake, How were they?
I had it last week at a Hi Time tasting of Champagnes, and it was delicious. Very broad and open, not seeming like a long ager (though I’m not really qualified to make those projections), but quite joyous at this stage. I thought there were some better Champagnes in the tasting and definitely some better QPR, but it was quite good and nothing seemed questionable or off about it.
Was just in Costco in Socal, they had the '05 for $165, something like that.
Charles, Im about to post notes on over 20 Champagnes in the next day or so including this one and the 00 and 04 [not the 02]. I can state here that the 05` we had was “wimpy”. It was severely tight and closed down and had little to offer, a major disappointment and a surprise at that. Just to make sure, I packed one for our trip to Mexico where I am now and will open it along with some others on my birthday next week. My thought was, right or wrong, the transport might awaken it. Those notes forthcoming after next Thursday.
Chris, see my comments to Charles. You got lucky or maybe I just had an exception to the norm.
Who knows. I just had one half glass of it in a tasting of a dozen Champagnes, and I’m not any sort of expert on Champagne, but I and everyone around me seemed to think it was quite tasty. It was one of the most open and crowd-pleasing wines of the event.
It seems like you and I tend to like the same kinds of wines, so I’m more inclined to think it was variation than I normally would (i.e. I think most time people chalk a difference of opinion up to bottle variation, it’s probably just a polite way to disengage from a discussion in which they actually just like different things).
Anyway, it’s not on my list of wines that I’d spend that kind of money for, so that will probably be the last time I have it, unless someone else brings it to a tasting.
Im getting the same impression Chris about our similarity in palate pleasing experiences. Perhaps some day well share some time and the pleasures of some wines.
FYI and contrary to my comment above that it would be done in the next day or so, recent tasting notes now posted including the 05` Cristal.