Louis Roederer, the historic Champagne house founded in 1776, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its Cristal Rosé. The milestone comes as the house debuts its latest Cristal releases in Asia in partnership with Links Concept.
The 2016 vintage marks the newest addition to the Cristal series, while the 2014 vintage is the most recent release of Cristal Rosé.
First created in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II, the emperor of Russia at the time, more than a century later, Cristal’s appeal extended from the royal family to pop culture.
Nearly a century after the launch of Cristal, in 1974 Cristal Rosé was created by Jean-Claude Rouzaud, the father of Frédéric Rouzaud, the current president of Louis Roederer. In our interview, Frédéric, the seventh-generation owner of this family-owned champagne house, shared its story, highlighting the house’s commitment to organic and biodynamic practices while adhering to traditional massal selection.
How Cristal Rosé is Made
To create Cristal Rosé, Louis Roederer employs cold-soaking technique for its Pinot Noir at temperatures between -3 and 0 degrees Celsius. This process allows for the extraction of color and fruity aromas while avoiding extracting any tannin. Chardonnay is then added and co-fermented with the Pinot Noir juice, giving the wine its signature pale hue, reminiscent of the Middle Ages-inspired Oeil de perdrix.
It was Jean-Claude who identified the plots for Cristal Rosé production. The Pinot Noir is sourced from the finest old Grand Cru vineyards in Aÿ, Top grand cru from La Rivière as La Goutte d’Or, and Garjotte, while Chardonnay comes from Avize and Menil-sur-Roger in La Côte des blancs. The plots he selected feature calcareous clay soil that imparts exquisite minerality and freshness to the grapes.
“He saw these extraordinary unique grapes planted on the purest chalky soil of this grand cru terroir when he arrived at the company in 1967,” Frédéric said. His father spent the first seven years at the house overseeing the vineyards, during which he identified the exceptional Pinot Noir from Aÿ.
“They were probably the oldest vineyards with this historical varietal of Pinot Noir,” Frédéric said, describing the vineyards in Aÿ that his father chose. “So he decided to make this very small almost single vineyards of Cristal Rosé from there. This was the beginning of a new era for Roederer”
Only 80 hectares of the 250 hectares owned by the house can produce Cristal in the best years depending on weather conditions while Cristal Rosé comes from 3 single vineyards of 5 hectares…And these vineyards have an average age of 40 years old
“We only produce Cristal in years where the climate is more continental than Océanic influence , Frédéric said. And that doesn’t happen every year but it’s key to have this beautiful slow maturity of Pinot Noir and of course, Chardonnay.”
Massal Selection, Few Clones
Louis Roederer continues to prioritize traditional massal selection over modern cloning methods to preserve the diversity and complexity of its Pinot Noir an Chardonnay which spans over 100 varieties each…
“Clones have been created to resist more quickly to every desease , but at the same time we lost slowly diversity and complexity of grapes and tastes,” Frédéric explained. “Now, we replant a wide selection of old varietals because each of them bring something special and the final blend gets this extra complexity , this extra dimension of flavors , fruitiness and salinity which I think make the real singularity of our wines
Frédéric used cloned vegetables or fruit as an example to illustrate the loss of flavor palettes in clones. “Like a tomato or a strawberry , there is not just one varietal …And we have to preserve that to preserve the diversity of taste…because it preserve the emotional pleasure we have when eat or drink something special
And even if this artisanal craftmanship of viticulture is more time-consuming and needs more investments, it’s worth when you want to push to boundaries of creating emotional wines , said Frédéric …
For the house, prioritizing quality over quantity is far more important, even if it means producing at a slower pace. For Cristal and our wines, Time is key and a real luxury tool that allows us to do things patiently : the soil is allowed four years between plantings to regenerate its components and the wine is aged minimum eight years before its release. This is all about Time …
This year, mildew significantly reduced the number of grapes, but the house still achieved a healthy harvest with a nice and slow maturation process. “Mildew was intense this year, so it destroyed about 20% of the crop , but I think thanks to this small yields the quality will be exceptional ” Frédéric explained.
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