Champagne Louis Roederer Cristal 2015

Every glass of wine is a story and when it comes to the Cristal, the story is being continually added to with every vintage. In a recent conversation with Roederer’s Cellar Master Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon, I asked him where the intersection of art and science lay for him as he often waxes lyrical about poetry and art as much as the making of the wine itself. You may have learned from my previous reviews that I too tend to get very whimsical and poor Gary gets blamed for my talk of couture dresses and all things diaphanous or sparkly. Jean-Baptiste said that the vineyard was planted the same year that Baudelaire composed Les Fleurs du Mal. Baudelaire always insisted that the collection was not a “simple album” but had “a beginning and an end,” each poem revealing its full meaning only when read in relation to the others within the “singular framework” in which it is placed. I think that Cristal carries some of that with it, each vintage is its own piece but also tells a story when placed alongside the other vintages. It also tells the tale of the world around it, grapes, vineyard management, climate change and more all become woven into the tapestry of the wine.

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