With a Long History, Louis Roederer's Cristal Has Become One of The

TSAR trek With a long history, Louis Roederer’s Cristal has become one of the world’s most expensive and sought-after Champagnes. Combining a luxury reputation with the finest artisanal quality, mature vintages are commanding ever-higher auction prices A PRECURSOR to the prestige cuvée bottle, the prestigious Champagne also outset, this Champagne house targeted brand, Cristal was created in 1876 at the had to satisfy the Tsar’s discerning tastes: overseas markets, even being named behest of Tsar Alexander II, who had Cristal was to be an exemplar of elegance, official wine supplier to the Imperial deemed it risky to imbibe the same concentration and finesse. To produce a Court of Russia. From 1933, and for Champagne as his court-goers. Fearing cuvée suitable for a royal palate, the several decades, Léon-Orly Roederer’s assassination attempts, the Tsar requested Roederer family spared no effort, using widow, Camille – remembered for her a transparent bottle – at the time made of exclusively estate-grown fruit from the strong-mindedness and intellect – crystal glass – allowing him to oldest vines grown in chalk-rich soils. oversaw the running of the estate, immediately detect poison. To quell the Cristal was created. bringing refinement and elegance to the Tsar’s fears that someone might hide Yet Roederer’s history began before the wines. The estate is now overseen by something lethal inside the punt, the creation of Cristal. Founded as Dubois Frédéric Rouzaud, the seventh generation bottom of the bottle was made flat. Père & Fils in 1776, and inherited and of the family, with Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon Befitting the bespoke design of the renamed Louis Roederer in 1833, from the as cellarmaster. 104 auction update – sponsored by iDealwine Price estimate breakdown of Louis Roderer Cristal 1985 ( €) About iDealwine.com 350 300 > iDealwine is an international fine- 250 wine e-merchant, with offices in 200 Paris, Hong Kong and London. 150 Specialising in online auctions and 100 fixed-price sales, iDealwine was launched in France in 2000, and is 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 9 9 9 9 now the online auction leader in 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 Europe, supplying to 50 countries in Europe, Asia and the US. > Wine is sourced from private European cellars and directly from Unlike many of the grandes marques, Some of the wines are fermented in oak the wineries, with a large range that Louis Roederer is family-owned, and has foudres, creating the delicate vinosity includes rare bottles and vintages. retained a decidedly human scale that is characteristic of Cristal. Over time, the > iDealwine provides wine-market not always evident in Champagne. It is bright pale-gold colour develops complex data and analysis, with more than also unusual in that it owns substantial aromas of almonds and hazelnuts, with a 60,000 price estimates, based on more vineyard holdings – 240 hectares – reverberation of bright fruit. Full bodied, than three million auction prices. distributed across the Montagne de round and creamy, yet boasting an > Contact: Angélique de Lencquesaing – Reims, the Vallée de la Marne, and the ethereal lightness and delicate tension, [email protected] Côte des Blancs; it produces two thirds of Cristal is characterised by its impressive the grapes needed for its production. In balance. The Cristal brand now includes a 2002 – a “dream vintage” by Lécaillon’s rosé and Vinothèque version, the latter an reckoning – the house stopped using innovative idea from Lécaillon to release pesticides and began its conversion to Cristal only after a prolonged stay in the very low, making them all the more biodynamics. Viticulture is traditional, house’s cellar. attractive for a collector. Clearly reflected with some parcels ploughed by horses to in the auction market, the price evolution preserve the most fragile rootstocks. All of mature Cristal is on the up. Much of Roederer’s vineyards are now farmed As Cristal was made for sought-after bottles of the mythic 1988 organically, and the parcels destined for vintage, for instance, frequently fetch the exclusive use of the € Cristal biodynamically. prices upwards of 350 (£313) a bottle, € tsars, when the Russian sometimes reaching 400. FLAGSHIP CUVÉE In April 2019, a bottle of Cristal 1990 € As Cristal was made for the exclusive use monarchy fell in 1917, the went under the hammer for 365, and the of the tsars, when the Russian monarchy 1983 vintage has consistently reached the label disappeared. In € fell in 1917, the label disappeared. In 1945, 300 mark. In February 2019, the price of € however, Roederer started to remake the 1945, Roederer started to the 1973 almost crossed the 500 € expression, and it was made remake the expression, threshold, selling at 499. The auction commercially available for the first time. results for Cristal 2009 – the last vintage € It is now Roederer’s flagship cuvée. and it was made to be released – which sold at 146, and Every bottle of Cristal is produced even the highly qualitative and critically € with grapes from Roederer’s own commercially available acclaimed 2008, which was sold at 191, vineyards, from 80 hectares of grand cru illustrate the comparative attraction for holdings in Verzenay, Verzy, Beaumont- Champagnes are indeed often drunk too mature vintages. sur-Vesle, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ for the young, and it’s exactly this that makes With much of its production still Pinots, and Avize, Mesnil and Cramant mature vintages of prestige cuvées so destined for Russia and other overseas for the Chardonnays. interesting on the auction market. Recent markets, it’s clear that Cristal has lost Generally a blend of 55% Pinot Noir and vintages of a house’s prestigious cuvée none of its allure. db 45% Chardonnay, the plots are fermented are already sold at premium prices on the separately so as to retain the primary market, and while houses tend to characteristics of each vineyard. Cristal is keep the exact quantities of bottles left to mature on its lees for six years in produced a secret, it is generally known the house’s cellars, and rests for eight that production is rather large. Stocks of months after disgorgement. undrunk mature vintages, however, are 105.

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