The new release of Maison Louis Roederer’s 2018 Brut Millésime is crafted from a cépages this year of eighty percent pinot noir from the grand cru village of Verzy and twenty percent chardonnay. Twenty-eight percent of the vins clairs were barrel-fermented for this release, with twenty percent of the still wines going through full malo. The wine was aged four years sur latte and finished with a dosage of seven grams per liter. The wine’s refined bouquet delivers 171 scents of white peach, apple, bread dough, raw almond, a beautiful base of chalky minerality, dried flowers and a hint of oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, structured and impeccably balanced, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent mineral drive and grip, elegant mousse and a very long, nascently complex and vibrant finish. This is approachable out of the blocks, but to my palate, it really deserves five or six years in the cellar to allow its secondary layers to start to emerge. Fine, fine juice. 2026-2065.

The 2019 Louis Roederer Blanc de Blancs Brut Millésime is an excellent young wine. All of the grapes that go into this bottling hail from the maison’s La Côte estate in Avize. Just over a quarter of the vins clairs for this vintage were barrel-fermented and raised in cask. It was disgorged in July of 2025, after five years aging sur latte, and finished with a dosage of seven grams per liter in this excellent vintage. The wine is still youthful, but offers up a refined and complex bouquet of apple, pear, almond, brioche, a touch of fresh nutmeg, just a hint of oak, a fine base of chalky minerality, dried flowers and a topnote of lemon zest. On the palate the wine is deep, crisp and full-bodied, with a lovely core of fruit, fine focus and complex, lovely mineral undertow, elegant mousse and impeccable balance on the long and precise finish. This is certainly approachable today, but it is still a young wine and giving it five or six years in the cellar will pay handsome benefits. 2026-2065.

The 2015 Cristal Rosé is a blend of 56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay with 7 grams per liter of dosage. No malolactic fermentation was performed. It offers the palest salmon-pink color. It reveals a quiet intensity of red currants, cranberries, and fresh apple aromas, opening out to reveal an undercurrent of mint tea, wet pebbles, and cinnamon stick, plus a touch of baker's yeast. The palate is coated with spicy red fruit flavors, framed by a crisp backbone, silky texture, and very fine bubbles, finishing very long and fragrant. Delicious.

The 2008 Cristal Rosé Late-Released is another special 150th Anniversary bottling from Roederer. Interestingly, the Rosé seems to gain less through extended time in bottle and poignettage than the Blanc. Cranberry, chalk, mint, white pepper, slate and citrus peel are all finely sculpted. I look forward to tasting this again in another few years’ time, and specifically, seeing how it compares to the original release with bottle age

The 2008 Cristal Late-Released is a special cuvée bottled to celebrate Cristal’s 150th Anniversary. It spent an added four years on the lees, which places it between the regular release and the Vinothèque in terms of aging. Explosive in the glass, the 2008 possesses off-the-charts textural richness and density, much of that coming from the shaking of the bottles during élevage (poignettage). That extra mid-palate resonance fills out the layers, resulting in a Cristal that is utterly profound. Unforgettable.