From the first year of the Vinotèque programme, the bottle tasted of this classic, balanced vintage for Cristal was disgorged in 2010 after a period of lees ageing that included six years of 'poignetage', or shaking. It's a perfumed, charming Cristal more marked by Chardonnay glide and delicacy than many, with sweet orange citrus fruit, white peach and sweet-sour cooked apricots sitting under a delicious aromatic ageing complexity which throws up everything from Turkish delight to apricot kernel, sweet hazelnuts and milk chocolate. This is a complete, serene wine built more on beautiful fruit and ageing complexity than the salinity and tension of modern Cristal, although it has aged with beautiful integrity.

This sunny, ripe, generous vintage of Cristal sent Roederer's Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon in search of greater concentration and purity in the plots selected, with the resulting wine taking in extra plots of Chardonnay from Avize and Pinot Noir from Verzy that are not usually used. Through organic and biodynamic viticulture – and relatively low yields for the year – this Cristal retains the welcoming, generous texture that 2018s offer, but crucially follows it with an uncommon degree of finesse, energy and depth. Soft raspberry, apricot and white nectarine fruit is held in check by an engaging, slightly smoky white pepper complexity and a salty-chalky snap on the finish which livens up this glossy, flowing edition of Cristal. Longevity is assured here, but this is also a brilliant Cristal for drinking younger than the likes of 2016, 2014 or 2013. 30% oak fermentation, with dosage 7g/L.

With the bottles for Roederer’s Late Release repeatedly shaken before disgorgement (called 'poignetage'), this series picks up extra savoury, textural depth over the standard release as well as an engaging degree of age-related complexity. The vintage is naturally bright, even austere, but in addition to the extended lees ageing of 13 years, the time on cork (now standing at four years) has also warmed up the flavour profile with crusty sourdough, ginger snap, dried apple and briny hints meeting intense Seville orange citric focus and still-present, gentle raspberry Pinot sweetness. All in all this is a ravishing Cristal, of which magnums are even more exceptional.

Tasted from magnum (with score for magnum only), this extra long-aged edition of Cristal Rosé from the expressive, fruit-forward 2002 vintage is an arresting love letter to Pinot Noir fragrance, still releasing fresh and fragrant cherry and raspberry fruit but melding into roasted peaches, apricot kernel and brown bread richness through an ultra-silky, caressing palate of both supple fruitiness and unexpected delicacy. At this age there's pure pleasure, and little wound-up tension, to be found in this most heady, satisfying Cristal Rosé that, while not quite possessing the daring chalky intensity of vintages that follow, strikes home with pure finesse.

The counterpart to the Late Release of Cristal 2008, this rosé edition was also disgorged in 2022 after 13 years on the lees. Extended ageing, lees shaking ('poignetage') and four years of post-disgorgement ageing have brought deep, spicy, savoury undertones to this most vivid and energetic Cristal Rosé, built heavily around Pinot Noir from the grand cru village of Aÿ. Dried red berries and pink grapefruit meet an engaging, evolving set of ageing characters from iodine to the beginnings of truffle and sous-bois; this is showing its noble Pinot Noir pedigree. Despite this, the sheer purity of 2008 fruit is still the main act here, stony, sapid and persistent. Magnums (also tasted) offer an extra degree of purity and vibrancy.