How do you celebrate 250 years at the pinnacle of Champagne? If you’re Louis Roederer, you gather 650 members of the global wine community in Reims, transform your home into an immersive celebration of contemporary art and theatre, and unveil what your Chef de Cave will announce: “the Cristal of Cristals.”
Under seventh-generation family member and CEO Frédéric Rouzaud, Louis Roederer remains one of Champagne’s few great independent, family-owned Houses. The celebration honoured the House’s long history while spotlighting the philosophy that has shaped it: excellence without compromise. For this milestone year, Rouzaud added his own words to that philosophy: “Créer, c’est aimer. Creation is love.”
The event also marked the 150th anniversary of Cristal, first created in 1876 at the request of Russian Tsar Alexander II and widely regarded as the world’s first prestige cuvée.
During a summer heatwave in Reims, anticipation peaked as Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon took the stage. Music filled Roederer’s courtyard as performers emerged carrying illuminated bottles, before he unveiled Cristal 2008 Late Release and Cristal Rosé 2008 Late Release.
Then came the four words that would define the evening: “the Cristal of Cristals”. Lécaillon has long described the original 2008 release as the wine that defines Cristal: the benchmark vintage, the reference against which all others are measured, and the purest expression of Cristal’s identity. Now, the Late Release shows what that same vintage becomes with time: disgorged in March 2022 after an extraordinary 13 years on lees, four years longer than the original release, it has developed greater harmony, texture and generosity, while preserving the crystalline freshness, tension and chalky precision that define Cristal.
Another memorable moment from the night came not from the cellar but from the stage, courtesy of acclaimed Champagne writer, critic and deep-sea diver Peter Liem. Recounting the recent mission to recover bottles from a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea, Liem revealed they contained Louis Roederer champagne from the mid-nineteenth century, very likely destined for the Imperial Court in St Petersburg.
All records point to the vintage being 1857, meaning these bottles were destined for the same Tsar Alexander II who, two decades later, would request the creation of Cristal itself. Preserved beneath the icy waters for nearly 170 years, the bottles offered a rare glimpse into champagne from that period (analysis by Lécaillon revealed a dosage of 110g/L!) and reinforced Louis Roederer’s ongoing curiosity about underwater ageing.
That spirit of curiosity ran through the evening. While the celebration honoured 250 remarkable years, its focus stayed firmly on the future, hinting that Louis Roederer’s greatest achievements may not lie in its first 250 years, but in those still to come.
Our tip
Though 13 years on lees means this Cristal Late Release 2008 drinks beautifully now, its rare structure and freshness give it another decade-plus of cellaring potential. Set aside some bottles to watch the “Cristal of Cristals” evolve.
