2000 Louis Roederer Cristal Vinothèque
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Tasting notes
The 2000 Cristal Vinothèque is a huge, powerful wine with more size, body, and vinous intensity than the original release. Apple tart, spice, tangerine oil, hazelnut and dried flowers build in the glass, filling out the flavors effortlessly. The Vinothèque shows more body and size than the original release, but the two wines are not hugely different, certainly not to the degree they are later in this series. Dosage was 7 grams per liter. Disgorged: 2018.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Very fine bubbles and a gold color with a tinge of orange. Aromas of pie crust, cooked apple, honey, dried apple and pear crumble follow through to a full-bodied palate with a soft and round texture. This is silky and very rich and flavorful. Itâs showing its age now, with toffee, biscuit and hints of candied walnut in the aftertaste. This is a Champagne thatâs showing age and complexity now. Drink now.
Disgorged four years ago, with four grams per liter dosage, after a decade sur lattes and six years sur pointes, the 2000 Cristal Vinothèque bursts with notes of golden orchard fruit, mandarin, white flowers and iodine. Full-bodied, ample and powerful, with a deep and layered core, lively acids and a beautifully pearly mousse, it's a long, sapid Champagne that's showing very well today. As Lecaillon observes, the Vinothèque is the house's riposte to "everyone who says Cristal is released too young—with the Vinothèque releases, we've exaggerated the aging process to make Cristal more powerful and more dramatic." And this release is certainly a formidable effort in a vintage impacted by hail in the Montagne de Reims.