2002 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne 750 ml

Name: 2002 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne
Brand: Louis Roederer
SKU: 3dd24a74-57a8-4b36-93c5-9ef886518015
Price: 400 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

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quantity: 1

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Critic Reviews

98 pts

Wine Advocate

Roederer's 2002 Cristal is a fabulous wine! Originally released in 2009, it was re-released in March this year—and was sold out in a very short time. The Cristal I tasted at Roederer in May 2018 was disgorged in 2010, after seven years sur lie. Its amazing richness and concentration makes it a forerunner of the 2015 and follows the 1999. Only two times—2002 and 2015—the fruit from all 42 plots reserved for Cristal was used for the Cristal. "I couldn't do any better blend than the one assembling all the 42 plots," says Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, stressing that at that time only two hectares were farmed biodynamically. As a result of the conversion to biodynamic farming, Lécaillon promised himself the production of even more beautiful, vital and balanced wines, and you can feel his satisfaction whenever he speaks of the cuvées that are yet to come such as 2012 and 2015, the latter of which he calls "the new 2002." Back to history: the nose of the 2002 Cristal shows a deep, ripe and elegant fruit with aromas of white chocolate, wet chalk, wild vanilla and pepper (typical for 2002) as well as terroir-driven truffle notes. Intense and very elegant in the mouth, this is a ripe, rich and concentrated yet also pure and vital Cristal with great finesse, elegance and mineral complexity. It's a sublime Champagne right now, although it's more wine than Champagne. Tasted in Reims in May 2018.

96 pts

Jeb Dunnuck

The 2002 Cristal is one seriously big, huge even, Champagne, and while this cuvee normally shows a seamless, elegant style, the 2002 vintage’s fruit profile dominates this wine. Toasted bread, oak spice, orchard fruits and toasted nuts give way to a full-bodied, mouthfilling, rich 2002 that stays light, graceful and elegant on the palate, with good to moderate acidity. It’s beautiful today, yet has two more decades of longevity.

96 pts

Vinous

The 2002 Cristal (Re-Release) is just as arrestingly beautiful as it has always been. Exotic, powerful and sensual, the 2002 is just starting to show all of its cards. The 2002 was magnificent when it was first released. Since then, it has only grown in breeding. In this vintage, Cristal is silky, sensual and open-knit, with enveloping fruit and striking textural resonance. It’s great to see the 2002 showing so well. I had high expectations when it was first released, and those expectations now appear to have been more than justified.

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Now In Parker’s Top 15 Vintage-Dated Champagnes of All Time

First reviewed a decade ago by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, this 2002 Cristal earned 96+ points. But in May of 2018, Parker upped the ante by promoting it to a 98-point rating and catapulting it into the Top 15 highest-rated vintage-dated Champagnes from the Advocate—ever.

The superlatives are many, and deserved: “fabulous wine!” “amazing richness and concentration,” “deep, ripe and elegant fruit,” “white chocolate, wet chalk, wild vanilla and pepper (typical for 2002) as well as terroir-driven truffle notes,” “very elegant,” on and on. This is the O.G. of Champagne, an icon you can enjoy now or cellar for another 20 years, and the must-have legendary vintage jewel that will be a showpiece in your cellar. One of the greatest Champagnes of the 21st Century.

First created to satisfy the refined palate of Tsar Alexander II in 1876, Louis Roederer’s Cristal has been an icon ever since. The emperor asked Roederer to reserve its best cuvée for him in exceptional vintages. To distinguish the Tsar’s Champagne from the rest, the wine came in a flat-bottomed, lead-glass “crystal” bottle. The brand later took its name from that precious vessel.

Over a century later, Cristal remains one of the world’s most iconic Champagnes. But Chef de Cave Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, Wine Spectator’s 2015 Winemaker of the Year, isn’t content to sit back and let stardom carry the brand. He continually strives to take the Tsar’s Champagne to new heights. And this 2002 is truly special—only the second blend in the history of Cristal to leverage all 42 vineyard plots typically reserved for Cristal.

The Wine Advocate’s Stephan Reinhardt said it best: “If you prefer Cristal in a bigger, richer and more concentrated style, you should go for the caressing 2002,” and noting that upon re-release it sold out immediately, leaving readers the chance to possibly find a bottle “at least in three-star Michelin restaurants.”

Ripe, rich, and deeply concentrated, if you do find it at a Michelin-Three-Star restaurant, expect to pay $1,200 or so, like at The French Laundry. Or, you can thank us in the new year, after you’ve enjoyed a bottle for less than $500, or, you could write us in a decade or two and tell us about the fireworks show in your glass—because we’re taking a few bottles ourselves, just so we can compare notes.

2002 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne is sold out.

2002 Louis Roederer Cristal Brut Champagne 750 ml

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