Country: France

Region: Champagne

Vintage: 2012

Cépage: Pinot Noir (60%); Chardonnay (40%)

Size: 750 ml

Rating(s): 97+ (RP); 97 (JD); 95 (JS)

" Aromas of clear honey, crisp green orchard fruit, white peach, pastry cream and dried white flowers introduce the 2012 Cristal, a full-bodied, concentrated and powerful wine that's built for the cellar. Broader, more textural and more muscular than the 2008 Cristal, with seemingly even greater reserves of structuring dry extract, the 2012 is incisive and searingly chalky. This is the first Cristal produced exclusively from organically farmed fruit, and it marks the opening of a new chapter for Louis Roderer."

William Kelley (RP) - 12/19