Description
Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé 750ml is the rosé version of Louis Roederer’s top cuvée, first made with the 1974 vintage under Jean-Claude Rouzaud. Like its white counterpart it is always a vintage wine, combining old-vine Pinot Noir from Grand Cru sites in Aÿ with Chardonnay from Avize and Le Mesnil.
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Serve at around 10 degrees in a white wine glass so the aromas have room. Its structure stands up to richer food, and it works well with roast duck or seared tuna.
- Single-vintage rosé Champagne, first made in 1974
- Pinot Noir from Aÿ with Chardonnay from Avize and Le Mesnil
- Colour drawn through the saignée method
Red fruit and citrus combine with a fine mineral line, while the palate is precise and structured rather than sweet or simply fruity. Acidity is vibrant and the finish is long.
The colour comes from the saignée method, where Pinot Noir juice takes its tint from skin contact before the wine is made, and the Pinot and Chardonnay are fermented together. Since 2008 the Pinot has also had a cold soak ahead of fermentation. Part of the base wine is aged in oak, and the bottles then spend a long period on lees in the Reims cellars. That time in the cellar gives the wine the frame to sit alongside a main course.
Cristal itself goes back to 1876, when Louis Roederer made it for Tsar Alexander II. The rosé arrived almost a century later. The estate vineyards behind both wines are farmed biodynamically, and the house remains independent in the hands of the Rouzaud family. As with Cristal, the clear bottle is sensitive to light, so leave its cellophane wrap in place until it is ready to pour.
For anyone who enjoys rosé Champagne at the table, and wants to try the house’s most considered version of it.
