Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - Lemony pale yellow color. Quite rich and pretty toasty nose with nuanced aromas of bready autolysis, some roasted chestnuts, a little bit of savory honey and hints of toffee and butterscotch. The nose os quite seductive, and even though it feels more savory than sweet, there is still an almost dessert-wine quality to it. The wine is dry, firm and structured on the palate, but the wine still comes across as rather delicate and light-bodied instead of big and burly. There are savory flavors of autolytic toast and nuttiness, ripe red apples, some sharp citrus fruit notes, a little bit of spicy and slightly bitter apple peel and a sweeter nuance of brioche. The mousse feels very fine and creamy with really small bubbles, yet it comes across as very persistent. The acidity is moderately high, i.e. high enough to keep the wine fresh and structured, but not high enough to make the wine appear as racy. The finish is extremely long, fresh and complex with juicy flavors of apples both tart and sweet, some fresh citrus notes of lime and grapefruit, a little bit of complex nuttiness and a touch of autolysis.

A lovely vintage of Cristal that is showing very nicely right now, but shows a lot of promise for the future. Overall the wine comes across as remarkably elegant and complex with layers upon layers of flavors, ranging from tart and savory fruits to sweeter and more ripe nuances to attractive toasty autolytic nuances to almost oxidative, nutty complexity. The wine feels very much alive, both in the nose and on the palate. A true classic and a perfect example why this particular wine is so highly esteemed. No need to pop any bottles open during the next decade, perhaps even for two.

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