A dazzling new edition of this wine, the 2016 Louis Roederer ‘Cristal’ Champagne is a world-class combination of 58% Pinot Noir and 42% Chardonnay. This edition of ‘Cristal’ was given 7G/L dosage. Chalky minerals mark the nose alongside white grapefruit blossom, marzipan, star jasmine and suggestions of kumquat zest that all meld in the glass. The palate is filled with crushed seashells and wet salty stones that combine with rich melon, lemon rind and tangerine zest flavors that combine with suggestions of pastry crust on the palate. Big, round and generous, this exudes class in terms of length, tension and flavor density. A gorgeous wine in its heady youth, enjoy over the next twenty plus years to come. Drink 2025-2045.

Part of a new collection that’s just reaching the market now, the NV Champagne Collection 245 is based on the 2020 vintage. (The trilogy of vintages in the collection are from the early ripening 2018, which is lighter and fruitier, the 2019, which is richer and more powerful, and the 2020, which is somewhere in between the other two.) The blend of the 245 is 41% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, and the rest Meunier. It has a reflective straw hue and offers notes of fresh almond, bread dough, and fresh flowers. Medium-bodied on the palate, with a fruity nature, it’s crunchy and fresh in the glass, with a lovely chalky texture, good refinement, a note of fresh nectarine, and a clean finish. Dry, but with a delicate rounded feel and some depth throughout, it opens to show more of its salinity and the delicate reductive smoke that frames the wine with oyster shell-like umami character. It’s approachable now but will age with ease.

From a very difficult year, the 2017 Champagne Vintage Rose is co-fermented from a blend made at harvest time. It pours a pristine bright salmon color and shimmers in the glass, offering notes of peaches, fresh berries, white pepper, and Mirabel. The palate has surprisingly good tension and lovely focus. A superb and more gastronomic wine, it has a hint of warmth, but it is more the spice that comes through. Drink 2025-2045.

The 2016 Champagne Vintage Brut is the new release and is composed of 70% Pinot Noir from Verzy and the rest Chardonnay from Chouilly. A slightly richer golden straw hue, it has a floral bouquet on the nose and is a very pretty vintage of this wine aromatically. It’s sappy with lemon confit and is salty throughout the palate, revealing the weight of the Pinot Noir but retaining wonderful freshness. This lovely wine is going to take some time to open aromatically, but it’s going to be worth the wait. Drink it over the coming 15 years. It’s a going to be a stunning wine for pairings. 7 gram per liter dosage in this wine and in the collection.

A bright yellow reflective color, the 2017 Champagne Blanc De Blancs is aromatic and pretty on the nose although just a little shy at this stage, offering notes of lemon meringue and hazelnut. The wine has a Burgundian texture and breadth to it, with a highly refined feel of elegance, a supple, rounded mouthfeel, a fluffy mousse, and a long finish. It has a hint of warmth, but it’s very well-managed and balanced. It’s pure all the way through, with a persistent chalky, underlying mineral texture.