critic reviews
The 2013 Cristal Rosé (magnum) is a Champagne of extraordinary dimension, concentration and pure power. All of the richness of a vintage marked by a delayed start, intense heat in summer and a late harvest comes through in a Champagne that dazzles from start to finish. The magnum format is especially evident here, as there are layers of slight reduction and textural intensity that are not present in both the 2014 in this tasting and the 2013 Cristal Rosé in bottle. Dosage is 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: March 2023.
A candidate for wine-of-the-vintage honors in Champagne, Roederer's 2013 Cristal Rose is showing brilliantly, unfurling in the glass with notes of crisp orchard fruit, white flowers, red berries, stone fruit, freshly baked bread and tangerine oil. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, the vintage's bright girdling acids are amply cloaked in exuberant, expressive and notably concentrated fruit; so while this Cristal is as tensile and age-worthy as one would expect, it's also impressively fleshy and generous given the year. Concluding with an intensely sapid finish, the 2013 isn't as overtly structured as the muscular, tightly wound 2012: rather, it's the 2013's alliance of cut and flesh, precision and charm that's so compelling this year. This is another banner vintage for what I consider the reigning champion of the region's tete de cuvee bottlings, and it will be worth an effort to acquire.