Description
Critical Acclaim
100 points John Gilman
Like the 2008 Cristal, the 2008 Cristal Rosé is the finest young vintage of this cuvée that I have ever tasted. The vineyards used for this cuvée have been farmed entirely biodynamic since the 2007 vintage and the wine was finished with a dosage in ’08 of 7.5 grams per liter. This is simply a brilliant young vintage of Cristal Rosé, offering up a stunningly pure and precise bouquet of fraises du bois, tangerine, complex, chalky minerality, white flowers and a touch of caraway seed in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, refined and full-bodied, with a flawless, completely seamless structural chassis, great depth at the core, elegant mousse and superb complexity and grip on the perfectly balanced, refined and laser-like finish. The 2008 Cristal Rosé is still a baby and will need at least another seven to ten years to start to truly blossom, but its magic is already very easy to behold. Rosé Champagne simply does not get any better than the brilliant 2008 Cristal! (03/2018)
100 points Wine Advocate
The finest rendition of this cuvée that Lécaillon has produced to date—and, indeed, one of the finest wines produced by any of Champagne’s important houses in the last two or three decades—is the 2008 Cristal Rosé, a brilliant wine that derives from a mere four of the 45 plots that are candidates for inclusion in Cristal: two blocks of Pinot Noir from Aÿ, one of Chardonnay from Mesnil and another from Avize, and I suspect that its origin in the crème de la crème of Roederer’s Cristal-worthy holdings has even more to do with the extra dimension it possesses above and beyond its white counterpart than the delicate infusion of Pinot Noir phenolics that give it its delicate pink hue. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of wild strawberries, tangerine, warm pastry and crisp green orchard fruit, the 2008 is medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with a racy but beautifully integrated spine of acidity, a multidimensional core and a searingly chalky and laser-focused finish. Impeccably balanced and harmonious, this superb wine represents one of the qualitative peaks of this great vintage. It will be seven or eight years until it truly starts to blossom, but its benchmark quality is already glaringly apparent. (WK, 03/2020)
99 points James Suckling
Super fresh with all the DNA of the regular ‘08 Cristal. It heads on a chalky, restrained tangent of delicately spiced cherries with fine white pepper and crushed stones. The palate has a thread of silky, smooth pinot flesh that counterbalances the acidity of the chardonnay. Superb textural build, fine layers adding weight through the finish. Super long, fine and fresh red cherries, wrapped in super tight yet silky acidity. (10/2019)
99+ points Vinous
The 2008 Cristal Rosé is all tension, nuance and class. Fresh and utterly brilliant, the 2008 bristles on the palate with pure pedigree. In the glass, the 2008 is at once translucent, weightless and powerful. Readers should be in no hurry to drink the 2008, a wine that will age effortlessly for many, many decades to come. (AG, 07/2017)
96 points Wine Enthusiast
Interestingly released after the softer 2009 version of this wine, this 2008 vintage is beautifully balanced between crisp fruit and ripe maturity. With its red fruits still in place, it also has a toasty yeasty edge that is sophisticated and enticing. It is a superb wine, delicious to drink now although because of the quality of the vintage it will age for many more years, certainly into the 2020s. *Cellar Selection* (RV, 12/2017)
95 points Wine Spectator
Like fine china, this graceful rosé Champagne is all about delicacy paired with form. Vibrant acidity provides well-honed structure, fleshed out by the detailed flavor range of white cherry, slivered almond, candied ginger, pink grapefruit pith and spring blossom as this rides the satiny mousse. Minerally smoke and chalk notes echo on the finish. *Collectible* (AN, 12/2018)
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