2013 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut

Community Tasting Note

sfwinelover1 Likes this wine:

96 Points

Saturday, October 29, 2022 - Bordeaux and Beyond (The csimm_M Estate): One of new friend Bryan’s generous contributions to BDX+ night and a great early starter of festivities. I’m more of a champagne liker than lover and cop to less confidence in my notes for it than the major varietals of CA, France and Italy. This was my first brush with this label, and I was looking forward to it, as it seems polarizing in the wine world (something I always love!), probably, I think, because it seems to be such a favorite of people with lots of $ who rarely, if ever, seem to contemplate anything too deeply. This was an entirely different animal than I expected, all taut, lithe, lean and long, with tart citrus, minerality and white flowers leading the way, and nary a hint of the usual brioche-apples-fallen leaves, etc. With a bit of time, there was certainly hints of nuttiness, apples and pears, stone fruit, sweeter citrus and maybe even the faintest flicker of jasmine, but electricity and lift rule the roost here, something to savor, if you don’t want to throw this down straight no chaser, more with oysters and sushi than the dessert carte. Nice, compact effervescence. The beam of acidity in this makes me think that this will last a long time and could improve, but if, for you as for me, angularity in an adult beverage is a compliment rather than an epithet, I won’t accuse you of infanticide (I was going to write this in as a comment to PT’s TN per IRBDW, but he seems to have shut down the comments, as he usually does). Maybe every so often the mindless, entertainment rich really are onto something. 95-96+

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Comment posted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine:

11/2/2022 1:39:00 PM - Thanks for the note and Tasting Story! I found it informative and entertaining! Kudos for the well-written notes and story! I think we have similar palates, i.e., need fruit; but I am convinced that everyone has a different threshold (or ability) to taste fruit. I have friends who swear there is plenty of fruit where I taste none, and I probably taste plenty of fruit where some others may not. Either way, it is important! I would hope your tasting started with older Bordeaux, then younger Bordeaux before moving to California. Personally, unless it is very old CA, I would have a hard time following a big CA Cab with any Bordeaux, much less an older Bordeaux. Also would have recommended Right Bank before Left Bank.....but that is just my opinion! Regardless, sounds like quite a soiree! Salivating vicariously just reading the notes!
Comment posted by sfwinelover1:

11/2/2022 1:48:00 PM - Hi IRBDW: Thanks for the nice comments and thoughtful note. Can’t speak for others, but at least on the initial pass, I drank whites first (of course), RB, LB (in each case, without particular reference to bottle age), the Materium (although I went back for second, and in some cases, third) tastes of some of the BDX after) then the SQN, which was the final thing I tasted. I remember a while ago you talked about trying to get a geographically diverse group of us together somewhere. Perhaps that can be a NY’s resolution?
Comment posted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine:

11/2/2022 1:55:00 PM - Would love to host or join for a tasting sometime! Actually going to AZ in December for Lite's VHR tasting, and Marvin (WBW) is coming here next week! Let's make it a NYs resolution to get together somewhere!