Better than the 08?
Anyone familiar with Best Liquor 1838 in Brooklyn?
Certainly more open and approachable now. I think it may have the goods to best it in the long run also, but weâre splitting hairs.
Definitely splitting hairs. Safe to say that Cristal rosĂ©, regardless of vintage, is in a class of its own. However, for anyone looking to buy, â13 is still available and much cheaper than the â08.
1 Like
I just checked WS for the 13 Cristal Rose and itâs sitting at $555 pre tax/shipping. I can no longer afford Champagne.
Thatâs pretty good just on the open market. My best price was $475.
While I consider Cristal rosé a bargain relative to the best wines from other regions, on an absolute dollar basis it is expensive. Some other rosé options that I like and are more wallet friendly include:
- Billecart Brut rosé - The current release of this is much dialed back from the over-dosaged and deep orange colored of years past. We had a bottle in Palm Beach while on vacation off the restaurant list for $130, that was a no-brainer. Retail is around $80
- '16 Roederer rosé - baby Cristal and my favorite vintage of this since '12, I paid $90 locally, but B21 has it for $80.
- 2012 Philipponnat 1522 rosé - this is better than the brut IMO and price has crept up, but it was sub-$100 on release.
- Bollinger LGA rosé - I really like '14/'12/'04, sub $200
- 2008 Billecart Salon Elisabeth Salmon rosé - This is going to cost a little north of $200, but I find this is the closest rosé to Cristal.
- '08 DP rosé - this is my favorite vintage of DP rosé
- '12/'13 Vilmart Emotion - this is a bigger style and I prefer the '12 for drinking now. Similar in price to DP.
- Comtes rosé - I am typically not a fan of Comtes rosé, but recent bottles of '06/'07 have been really good. Sub - $200.
I am sure there are plenty other value rosés, especially sub $100 NV that I have not tried yet, maybe other could chime in.
4 Likes
Surprised to hear this as I thought you didnât like it. Have you had the '09?
interesting you mention the billecart rose as iâve had a few recently myself and agree that it drinks much better than i recall. was there a change made at some point?
also, i had no idea that a vintage exists and found one in miami recently for about $120. that was a pretty serious wine. iâd need to have them next to each other, but the vintage drank with a lot of texture and depth.
would love to hear from the experts what, if anything, is going on with these two wines at billecart.
Deutz amour rose 08 is absolutely up there with the very best roses, with only cristal ahead of it.
5 Likes
I attended the Billecart lunch last La Paulée with Mathieu Roland-Billecart and he said he made a lot of changes when he took over a few years ago. Probably the biggest change was to make sure that whatever they make, it is the best they can do. There is no room for average within their offerings and I think this is what has driven the change in the brut rosé. They recently made a '10 vintage which I believe uses the grapes normally set side for Elisabeth Salmon, but it was not deemed good enough ES, but better than traditional brut reserve. I had that once and I thought it was very good too.
4 Likes
I need to try this!
No one was more surprised than me. I have not had the '09 and I donât own any. I do own the '08, might have to try a bottle soon.
My list of favorite rosés is quite similar:
Vilmart Emotion (havenât tried the '14 or '15, but '12 and '13 were outstanding)
Billecart-Salmon Elisabeth
Deutz Amour
Egly-Ouriet
Bolly Grand Année
I also agree with you on the '06 and '07 Comtes Rosé. They are fantastic, and were priced well when I bought them. The '04, OTOH, was a mess. I truly hated that magnum.
For sub-$100, I like:
Ployez Jacquemart
Roederer
Marc Hebrart
Paul Dethune
and for a simple wine that brings joy for a song, Jose Michel.
2 Likes
Great list Warren. Some new ones on there for me that I need to try.
1 Like
Yes thatâs the goal. The wholesale is much cheaper in order to incentivize BTG pours ($135??). Not sure how well itâs policed of course. Tends to be allocated as well, depending on the market.
Whatâs the wholesale on the ânormalâ bottling
Depends on the market, but something like $235-$250
Thatâs crazy when you can buy it at retail for $180 overseas.
1 Like