I had low hopes for this one as I suspected the bottle was not well-stored. Almost an orange color, suggesting oxidation, but still had some bubbles and drank well. This was my first experience with Cristal so unfortunately I don't have a reference of what it's supposed to be like.
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Blind, side by side with 88 A perfect bottle, so fresh, so elegant, only a touch of nougat, still the lemon aromas are dominating. Difficult to detect as a Cristal. I guessed CdM 83. The 88 was not a perfect bottle. Never had such a good 1985 of this wine. 96-97
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Wow. No psscht on opening. Carmelized, all maillard butterscotch and roasted mallow. Still some softened mousse, beautiful texture. Fine stuff. 85 is a lovely vintage from what I can tell in Champagne.
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Epic Bordeaux for an Epic Birthday!; 9/1/2021-9/12/2021 (Paris & Bordeaux): From a magnum. We poured first glass at Lynch Bages and then finished on the terrace at Pichon Comtesse. Initially there was some concern that there weren’t enough bubbles similar to the 83 we had earlier in the week but I was happy to find that it’s just old champagne and they are there although of course not as pronounced as the young ones. This is a sweet spot wine for me. I really enjoy the complexity that comes from old champagne where there’s a touch of oxidation and the wine is a hint caramel and esp with these old Cristals where there’s some more RS and so it rounds out the wine. Drinking very nicely.
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Drank this amazing champagne from a magnum bottle with two friends. The tryout of this champagne lasted for 5 hours of enjoyment.
We sat outside and ate food together with this bottle that on the nose opend up with a strong scent of mushrooms then after like 1 hour scents of wet wood, wet tobacco, cola and caramell occured.
On the palate it tasted totally amazing. The champagne had bubbles everywhere in the glass. I never seen anything like this before. taste of full bodied red/yellow apples, honey, yeast, peach, plum and mixed yellow stonefruit. The aftertaste was so smooth and wellrounded.
The first 3 glasses where toally amazing. 99-100 points. After some hours the bottle became tired but the aromas and scent grew stronger. The bubbles where very tired and slow tough. So I would rate these glasses 98-99 points.
I will try to buy as much Cristal 1985 as I can, amazing bottle and vintage! I think this champagne has 3-4 years left, so enjoy it when u can!
Summary
taste: 4 (and a half) of 5 scent: 3/5 bubbles: 5 of 5 mineral: 1 of 5 aftertaste: 4,5 of 5 body: 4,5 of 5
The overall impression is that this is the best champagne i ever tried and propably the only bottle wich I will give 100 points!
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not blind From a very good but not perfect bottle. Typical nougat and white chocolate notes. Some caramell with great acidity structure. At his peak. I would drink it now. 94-95
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Really a great bottle of this with excellent succulent acidity combined with flavors of faded fruits and flowers. Then an extra dimension of complexity that kicks in on the finish with classic mature Champagne notes of toasted brioche, caramel, raspberry and a perfect nuttiness. Out of magnum and peaking right now. At byob game dinner at Daniel.
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Not usually a Cristal fan but the nose was incredible - candy fruit, roasted nuts, brioche, raspberry pie. The palate felt younger than the nose - lingering acidity, red fruits (more raspberry), baked apple. Almost a chewy finish. One of the top champagnes I've had and was right up there as WOTN against some pretty spectacular bottles.
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Grilled nut, baked apple, yeast, coffee beans and caramel. Palate was fresh and deep with lots of underlying substance. It surpassed dom and krug among all the 85 I had. 94-95
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Wine Workshop: An evening with Cristal (Atera - 77 Worth Street in NYC): Definitely not past prime as earlier note said although I think this bottle was bought on release and well stored through that time. In a nice spot. It reminds me a lot of a fresh spring day. If there were apples in the spring. Has that kindof dewey, touch green but in a good way sense. And of course some apple and a hint of sweet. Overall a nice combination.
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I don’t believe that this was a perfect bottle? It was not flawed, but neither top notch. Some unexpected oxidation notes came and went, sweet vanilla and bruised yellow apples with a touch of hay. Palate with apples, vanilla, hay, lemons and spices. However, not a 100% correct bottle I am afraid? No score given tonight.
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Outstanding bottle still in original plastic wrapper. Very high neck. Slightly over the hill. Hardly any fizz left. Absolutely breathtaking finish with layers upon layers of marzipan and vanilla. Do not hold - a few years past its prime phase.
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Nicht ganz perfekte Flasche, minimale Oxidationszeichen. Flasche reiste zwei Tage durch Peters Koffer. Es fehlt die Tiefe und Komplexität des 88 und 89ers. Trotzdem ausgewogen und harmonisch. 94
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From magnum. Considerably lighter colour and overall younger showing than the DP served from regular bottle alongside it. A bit foresquare still in comparison with the fully mature DP. Still, delicious and has a bright future in this format
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Ten Days in Burgundy, Champagne, and Paris; 6/24/2016-7/6/2016: Much better showing than the last bottle. Good nose with plenty of development of rich white fruit. Quite grainy with nice cereal notes. Still very lively and sweet on the palate. Some stony minerality too.
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Caramel, brioche, yeasty, but lacking in fruit. Missing that nice '85 smokiness, sulphur, and minerality as well. Sharp and super dry. Still very good and a pleasure to drink, but not as awesome as other '85s enjoyed recently.
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Becoming dry at this point, certainly versus my last experience a couple of years ago. Dry pear and spiced apple cider with little carbonation. Subtle but quite enjoyable. 93-94
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Beautiful deep golden hue, but what a lively wine. It showed no signs of slowing down even after hours. Elegant yet with a vitality I have never experienced before in a wine that was approaching its 30-year mark. We were drinking from a magnum.
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Beautifully balanced. Perfectly creamy integrated mousse. Pineapple, ginger, and candied lemon flavors. A wealth of fruit, but plenty of balancing acidity. Great stuff.
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Really vibrant champagne with a wonderful inner core of intensity and grip. Filled with flavors of clove and spice with good fruit notes of lemon and pineapple. Finishes crisp with nice yeasty flavors and good complexity with a hint of caramel. I actually think this is still a bit young and should improve. Yum! 95+
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Acker auction tasting (Chicago, IL): From magnum. Incredibly rich nose. Perfumed and refined. Powerful fruit-driven aromas with no hint of oxidation. No sense of oak influence; the acidity has a steely mineral quality to it. Linear, concentrated and powerful. Incredible.
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We drank the 75, 85, 90, and 02 Cristal side by side over the course of a four hour lunch yesterday. The 90 showed as typical, a touch advanced yet so good. It's simply a terrific Cristal. The 75 also showed its age, but was really enjoyable. Very similar in profile to the 90, lots of Cristal fat and yeast. Good stuff. The 85 was so weird its hard to describe. At first we thought it might be a fake, but all looked perfect on the bottle and cork. For about two hours it gave off nothing on the nose, and not a lot on the palate. About hour three, it started to open. then at hour four it was rocking. Weird, but in the end pretty damn good. And last but not least, the baby 2002. As always, precise and laser like. A gorgeous young champagne, that drinks very well young.
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Acker BYO 2011 (Tribeca Grill): Deeper gold color than the previous champagnes. A mature nose - cider, creamy, malt balls and vanilla. Just amazing on the palate - lively, complex and rich. Hard to find descriptors (not because it is so amazing, even though it is, just because it is out of my normal wine experience). Really creamy, like an apple-mineral cream. Nearly perfect. Fuck yeah. Nose - 5/6, Palate - 6/6, Finish - 5.5/6, Je Ne Sais Quoi - 2/2 = 18.5/20.
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Probably one of the best Champagnes I've had. Beautiful gold color. Bubbles were delicate but live. The nose had such an amazing combination of sweet kind of amber note together with citrus, green and tropical fruits. On the palate this was amazing. The acidity was just right. Lots of concentration of fruit. Very complex and rich, at the same time that has an incredible elegance. Long finish. Simply phenomenal! This was tasted side by side with Salon '85, which was another fabulous bottle.
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At the Dan "I am ALIVE" lunch, Bibendum Restaurant - simply beautiful, elegant, subtle and with fabulous poise.... but the 100 points is for the fact that we were there (11 of us) lunching with Dan, after his nasty brain op a mere 5 days before. A few other great wines followed: 1985 Latour, 1982 Las Cases, 1995 Rom-St-Viv, DRC .... all in all, FAB lunch (with a little emotion thrown in). Long live Dan! For sure, he is still alive.
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The French Laundry...21 Courses, 11 Wines, Infinite Memories; 7/21/2007-7/22/2007 (The French Laundry (Yountville, Napa Valley, California)): After some shopping in San Francisco and a great lunch at the Slanted Door, Amy Emery's 40th birthday festivities truly began when Ken Emery opened a large can of fresh Tsar Nicolai Osetra caviar, accompanied by a magnum of Louis Roederer Cristal 1985. Medium yellow/gold in color, the Cristal sports a brisk tiny bead and an explosively intense nose of toasted bread, nutmeg, orange zest and hazelnuts. Medium-bodied on the palate and with crisp acidity, the wine appears to be very youthful. The flavors are comparable to the nose, the texture creamy and the finish extremely long. At this point, this wine from magnum scores an unblinded 99 and should drink well for at least another 10 or even 15 years.
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A pale golden color with a fine bead. The nose was closed on opening but gained some notes of yeast and apple with time. The palate was not terribly complex on attack, but had mature yeasty flavor along with youthful notes of pear, green apple, and citrus fruits for the well balanced midpalate. It gained weight with time. The near endless finish completed a wine of great poise and finesse. Not a blockbuster, but quintessential mature champagne. Not intellectual, but highly hedonistic, leaving one yearning for more.
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Pre-Parker warmup dinner at Citronelle (Washington DC): Mmm, this is a nice aged champagne with hints of butter-brickle and yeast. This doesn't bowl you over like the beastly, young 1996 Dom Perignon, but it is classy and mature.
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Tasted from magnum at Amy Weinberg's birthday dinner, held at Michele Coulon restaurant in La Jolla. Medium straw-gold in color with an amazingly brisk tiny bead, this Champagne is the real thing! The nose shows an explosively intense bouquet of bread dough, nutmeg, cardamom and orange peel. Medium-bodied on the palate, with crisp acidity yet a creamy mouth texture. The flavors mirror the nose. The finish on this Champagne is its greatest asset...It goes on and on and on! A true beauty which is amazingly youthful. Anyone holding bottles (or better yet, magnums) of this gem is in for a treat over the next decade.
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Light yellow appearance. Honey and wet metal and minerals on the nose. Great structure but just a touch narrow and hollow in the mouth. With some air the wine finds dimensions. Could be more concentrated. Yet, a marvellous glass given the good structure and harmony. A bit more of everything could be desired.
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Opened for our 27th wedding anniversary, Kathy and I noticed a great mousse, lots of tiny bubbles, nose of baked apple croissant, hints of pear and peach, and wet shale, touch of yeast, savored with smoked salmon, full bodied, and long, long finish.
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Opened for our 26th wedding anniversary, Kathy and I previously enjoyed it at Louis Roederer in 1991. Nose of baked butterscotch tart, hints of pitted fruit, allspice, and wet shale, lovely tiny bubbles and great mousse, delicious with the French Brie and filet mignon, rich, full bodied, and tasty, long, long finish.
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Paired with a shrimp dish for my birthday - not a good combination. Disappointing wine, too. Microscopic bead, very little froth. Too much lemon, not enough bread. Weightless and simple.
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Marin Wine Cellar bottle. Light pale yellow. Excellent mousse. Still closed in. Light but interesting flavors of pineapple and mixed citrus. Not too acidic. Obviously still young. Evolution should be interesting.
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Champagne and Yquem Holiday Preview (Lafayette, Ca.): Great tiny bubbles formed a lovely mousse, good color in the glass, lots of fruit, wood, and yeast on the nose, tired on the palate, medium finish, storage? My #5, Group #4.
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At Jamin-Robuchon Paris, to accompany the fantastic Menu Crustaces, maybe the best meal of my life. The Cristal was a “bargain” at 980FF, the meal, not so much at 1100FF. Light gold. Light nose of wheat crackers. Foamy mousse of minute bubbles. Very aggressive and young. Good acidity but not sure if the fruit is up to the challenge. Even Cristal needs a few years to settle down, especially since it is disgorged so early.
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1/18/2024 - aquacongas wrote: 95 Points
not blind
At his peak, typical nougat note, could be a hint fresher. 95
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12/31/2022 - vinopunk Likes this wine: 92 Points
I had low hopes for this one as I suspected the bottle was not well-stored. Almost an orange color, suggesting oxidation, but still had some bubbles and drank well. This was my first experience with Cristal so unfortunately I don't have a reference of what it's supposed to be like.
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11/19/2022 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 97 Points
Blind, side by side with 88
A perfect bottle, so fresh, so elegant, only a touch of nougat, still the lemon aromas are dominating. Difficult to detect as a Cristal. I guessed CdM 83. The 88 was not a perfect bottle. Never had such a good 1985 of this wine. 96-97
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8/18/2022 - jhngo Likes this wine: 97 Points
One of the freshest cleanest 85 Cristal I've had. Pale yellow and ton of bubbles. amazing!
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8/5/2022 - jviz wrote: 96 Points
Wow. No psscht on opening. Carmelized, all maillard butterscotch and roasted mallow. Still some softened mousse, beautiful texture. Fine stuff. 85 is a lovely vintage from what I can tell in Champagne.
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12/30/2021 - nickou1308 Likes this wine: 98 Points
Should drink asap but needs some air to open up
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9/10/2021 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Epic Bordeaux for an Epic Birthday!; 9/1/2021-9/12/2021 (Paris & Bordeaux): From a magnum. We poured first glass at Lynch Bages and then finished on the terrace at Pichon Comtesse. Initially there was some concern that there weren’t enough bubbles similar to the 83 we had earlier in the week but I was happy to find that it’s just old champagne and they are there although of course not as pronounced as the young ones. This is a sweet spot wine for me. I really enjoy the complexity that comes from old champagne where there’s a touch of oxidation and the wine is a hint caramel and esp with these old Cristals where there’s some more RS and so it rounds out the wine. Drinking very nicely.
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5/12/2020 - StiGGe wrote: 100 Points
Drank this amazing champagne from a magnum bottle with two friends. The tryout of this champagne lasted for 5 hours of enjoyment.
We sat outside and ate food together with this bottle that on the nose opend up with a strong scent of mushrooms then after like 1 hour scents of wet wood, wet tobacco, cola and caramell occured.
On the palate it tasted totally amazing. The champagne had bubbles everywhere in the glass. I never seen anything like this before. taste of full bodied red/yellow apples, honey, yeast, peach, plum and mixed yellow stonefruit. The aftertaste was so smooth and wellrounded.
The first 3 glasses where toally amazing. 99-100 points. After some hours the bottle became tired but the aromas and scent grew stronger. The bubbles where very tired and slow tough. So I would rate these glasses 98-99 points.
I will try to buy as much Cristal 1985 as I can, amazing bottle and vintage! I think this champagne has 3-4 years left, so enjoy it when u can!
Summary
taste: 4 (and a half) of 5
scent: 3/5
bubbles: 5 of 5
mineral: 1 of 5
aftertaste: 4,5 of 5
body: 4,5 of 5
The overall impression is that this is the best champagne i ever tried and propably the only bottle wich I will give 100 points!
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1/19/2020 - jhngo wrote: 80 Points
No fizz good flavors
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1/1/2020 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 95 Points
not blind
From a very good but not perfect bottle. Typical nougat and white chocolate notes. Some caramell with great acidity structure. At his peak. I would drink it now. 94-95
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12/19/2019 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
Really a great bottle of this with excellent succulent acidity combined with flavors of faded fruits and flowers. Then an extra dimension of complexity that kicks in on the finish with classic mature Champagne notes of toasted brioche, caramel, raspberry and a perfect nuttiness. Out of magnum and peaking right now. At byob game dinner at Daniel.
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6/22/2019 - Ms. Bubblehead Likes this wine:
Not usually a Cristal fan but the nose was incredible - candy fruit, roasted nuts, brioche, raspberry pie. The palate felt younger than the nose - lingering acidity, red fruits (more raspberry), baked apple. Almost a chewy finish. One of the top champagnes I've had and was right up there as WOTN against some pretty spectacular bottles.
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6/18/2019 - Burgnick Likes this wine: 94 Points
Grilled nut, baked apple, yeast, coffee beans and caramel. Palate was fresh and deep with lots of underlying substance. It surpassed dom and krug among all the 85 I had. 94-95
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12/4/2018 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Wine Workshop: An evening with Cristal (Atera - 77 Worth Street in NYC): Definitely not past prime as earlier note said although I think this bottle was bought on release and well stored through that time. In a nice spot. It reminds me a lot of a fresh spring day. If there were apples in the spring. Has that kindof dewey, touch green but in a good way sense. And of course some apple and a hint of sweet. Overall a nice combination.
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4/10/2018 - Ramberg wrote:
I don’t believe that this was a perfect bottle?
It was not flawed, but neither top notch.
Some unexpected oxidation notes came and went, sweet vanilla and bruised yellow apples with a touch of hay.
Palate with apples, vanilla, hay, lemons and spices.
However, not a 100% correct bottle I am afraid?
No score given tonight.
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2/4/2018 - victorpb Likes this wine: 94 Points
Outstanding bottle still in original plastic wrapper. Very high neck. Slightly over the hill. Hardly any fizz left. Absolutely breathtaking finish with layers upon layers of marzipan and vanilla. Do not hold - a few years past its prime phase.
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12/11/2017 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 94 Points
Nicht ganz perfekte Flasche, minimale Oxidationszeichen. Flasche reiste zwei Tage durch Peters Koffer. Es fehlt die Tiefe und Komplexität des 88 und 89ers. Trotzdem ausgewogen und harmonisch. 94
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5/7/2017 - ricknat1 wrote: 95 Points
Fresh intense and full bodied
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11/3/2016 - vin2share wrote: 89 Points
Mildly oxidised. Notes of bruised apple, baked wheat bread, and caramelized pears with a full body underpinning these flavors.
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7/27/2016 - DAN BAILEY Likes this wine:
From magnum. Considerably lighter colour and overall younger showing than the DP served from regular bottle alongside it. A bit foresquare still in comparison with the fully mature DP. Still, delicious and has a bright future in this format
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6/25/2016 - The Vines That Bind wrote: 93 Points
Ten Days in Burgundy, Champagne, and Paris; 6/24/2016-7/6/2016: Much better showing than the last bottle. Good nose with plenty of development of rich white fruit. Quite grainy with nice cereal notes. Still very lively and sweet on the palate. Some stony minerality too.
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12/21/2015 - Pacalet wrote: flawed
A tired bottle, with caramel like color, lots of madeira and very little life left.
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11/6/2015 - The Vines That Bind wrote: 92 Points
Caramel, brioche, yeasty, but lacking in fruit. Missing that nice '85 smokiness, sulphur, and minerality as well. Sharp and super dry. Still very good and a pleasure to drink, but not as awesome as other '85s enjoyed recently.
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10/8/2015 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 93 Points
Becoming dry at this point, certainly versus my last experience a couple of years ago. Dry pear and spiced apple cider with little carbonation. Subtle but quite enjoyable. 93-94
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6/10/2014 - BradE wrote:
This parcel of 85 has been hit and miss. This was a miss.
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2/22/2014 - gris Likes this wine: 97 Points
Beautiful deep golden hue, but what a lively wine. It showed no signs of slowing down even after hours. Elegant yet with a vitality I have never experienced before in a wine that was approaching its 30-year mark. We were drinking from a magnum.
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6/26/2013 - PANYC Does not like this wine: 90 Points
Had an oxidized character which is not my favorite but this could be due to storage. Need to try again.
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3/4/2013 - Lord Rayas Likes this wine:
MNSC - Kevin (Cepage): great intensity and balance. beautiful.
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1/20/2013 - BradE wrote:
A brilliant bottle of 85 Cristal. Almost bested the 88 Mesnil. Great, great.
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7/9/2012 - bongos wrote: 95 Points
Beautifully balanced. Perfectly creamy integrated mousse. Pineapple, ginger, and candied lemon flavors. A wealth of fruit, but plenty of balancing acidity. Great stuff.
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3/14/2012 - dream wrote: 95 Points
Really vibrant champagne with a wonderful inner core of intensity and grip. Filled with flavors of clove and spice with good fruit notes of lemon and pineapple. Finishes crisp with nice yeasty flavors and good complexity with a hint of caramel. I actually think this is still a bit young and should improve. Yum! 95+
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2/22/2012 - muchomaas wrote: 96 Points
An exceptionally perfect bottle of the 85 from Crush. This is exquisite wine.
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1/28/2012 - acyso wrote: 95 Points
Acker auction tasting (Chicago, IL): From magnum. Incredibly rich nose. Perfumed and refined. Powerful fruit-driven aromas with no hint of oxidation. No sense of oak influence; the acidity has a steely mineral quality to it. Linear, concentrated and powerful. Incredible.
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1/21/2012 - BradE wrote:
We drank the 75, 85, 90, and 02 Cristal side by side over the course of a four hour lunch yesterday. The 90 showed as typical, a touch advanced yet so good. It's simply a terrific Cristal. The 75 also showed its age, but was really enjoyable. Very similar in profile to the 90, lots of Cristal fat and yeast. Good stuff. The 85 was so weird its hard to describe. At first we thought it might be a fake, but all looked perfect on the bottle and cork. For about two hours it gave off nothing on the nose, and not a lot on the palate. About hour three, it started to open. then at hour four it was rocking. Weird, but in the end pretty damn good. And last but not least, the baby 2002. As always, precise and laser like. A gorgeous young champagne, that drinks very well young.
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12/19/2011 - Seth Rosenberg wrote: 97 Points
Acker BYO 2011 (Tribeca Grill): Deeper gold color than the previous champagnes. A mature nose - cider, creamy, malt balls and vanilla. Just amazing on the palate - lively, complex and rich. Hard to find descriptors (not because it is so amazing, even though it is, just because it is out of my normal wine experience). Really creamy, like an apple-mineral cream. Nearly perfect. Fuck yeah. Nose - 5/6, Palate - 6/6, Finish - 5.5/6, Je Ne Sais Quoi - 2/2 = 18.5/20.
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10/21/2011 - Lombardi wrote: 96 Points
Probably one of the best Champagnes I've had. Beautiful gold color. Bubbles were delicate but live. The nose had such an amazing combination of sweet kind of amber note together with citrus, green and tropical fruits. On the palate this was amazing. The acidity was just right. Lots of concentration of fruit. Very complex and rich, at the same time that has an incredible elegance. Long finish. Simply phenomenal! This was tasted side by side with Salon '85, which was another fabulous bottle.
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12/5/2010 - sooper65 wrote: 100 Points
At the Dan "I am ALIVE" lunch, Bibendum Restaurant - simply beautiful, elegant, subtle and with fabulous poise.... but the 100 points is for the fact that we were there (11 of us) lunching with Dan, after his nasty brain op a mere 5 days before. A few other great wines followed: 1985 Latour, 1982 Las Cases, 1995 Rom-St-Viv, DRC .... all in all, FAB lunch (with a little emotion thrown in). Long live Dan! For sure, he is still alive.
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1/1/2010 - 60ouvrees wrote:
A fabulous bottle of mature Cristal. Drinking perfectly now and should continue to for many years.
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7/21/2007 - La Cave d'Argent wrote: 99 Points
The French Laundry...21 Courses, 11 Wines, Infinite Memories; 7/21/2007-7/22/2007 (The French Laundry (Yountville, Napa Valley, California)): After some shopping in San Francisco and a great lunch at the Slanted Door, Amy Emery's 40th birthday festivities truly began when Ken Emery opened a large can of fresh Tsar Nicolai Osetra caviar, accompanied by a magnum of Louis Roederer Cristal 1985. Medium yellow/gold in color, the Cristal sports a brisk tiny bead and an explosively intense nose of toasted bread, nutmeg, orange zest and hazelnuts. Medium-bodied on the palate and with crisp acidity, the wine appears to be very youthful. The flavors are comparable to the nose, the texture creamy and the finish extremely long. At this point, this wine from magnum scores an unblinded 99 and should drink well for at least another 10 or even 15 years.
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8/19/2006 - bpj87 wrote: 93 Points
A pale golden color with a fine bead. The nose was closed on opening but gained some notes of yeast and apple with time. The palate was not terribly complex on attack, but had mature yeasty flavor along with youthful notes of pear, green apple, and citrus fruits for the well balanced midpalate. It gained weight with time. The near endless finish completed a wine of great poise and finesse. Not a blockbuster, but quintessential mature champagne. Not intellectual, but highly hedonistic, leaving one yearning for more.
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2/11/2005 - Eric wrote:
Pre-Parker warmup dinner at Citronelle (Washington DC): Mmm, this is a nice aged champagne with hints of butter-brickle and yeast. This doesn't bowl you over like the beastly, young 1996 Dom Perignon, but it is classy and mature.
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7/22/2004 - La Cave d'Argent wrote: 96 Points
Tasted from magnum at Amy Weinberg's birthday dinner, held at Michele Coulon restaurant in La Jolla. Medium straw-gold in color with an amazingly brisk tiny bead, this Champagne is the real thing! The nose shows an explosively intense bouquet of bread dough, nutmeg, cardamom and orange peel. Medium-bodied on the palate, with crisp acidity yet a creamy mouth texture. The flavors mirror the nose. The finish on this Champagne is its greatest asset...It goes on and on and on! A true beauty which is amazingly youthful. Anyone holding bottles (or better yet, magnums) of this gem is in for a treat over the next decade.
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6/1/2003 - Joe Belmaati wrote: 90 Points
Light yellow appearance. Honey and wet metal and minerals on the nose. Great structure but just a touch narrow and hollow in the mouth. With some air the wine finds dimensions. Could be more concentrated. Yet, a marvellous glass given the good structure and harmony. A bit more of everything could be desired.
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3/3/2000 - bestdamncab Likes this wine: 96 Points
Opened for our 27th wedding anniversary, Kathy and I noticed a great mousse, lots of tiny bubbles, nose of baked apple croissant, hints of pear and peach, and wet shale, touch of yeast, savored with smoked salmon, full bodied, and long, long finish.
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3/3/1999 - bestdamncab Likes this wine: 95 Points
Opened for our 26th wedding anniversary, Kathy and I previously enjoyed it at Louis Roederer in 1991. Nose of baked butterscotch tart, hints of pitted fruit, allspice, and wet shale, lovely tiny bubbles and great mousse, delicious with the French Brie and filet mignon, rich, full bodied, and tasty, long, long finish.
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11/1/1998 - sdr Does not like this wine: 77 Points
Two bottles opened before a 1985 California Cabernet tasting, both off. Similar to 9 months ago, too acidic, too lemony. No character.
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2/1/1998 - sdr Does not like this wine: 84 Points
Paired with a shrimp dish for my birthday - not a good combination. Disappointing wine, too. Microscopic bead, very little froth. Too much lemon, not enough bread. Weightless and simple.
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8/1/1994 - sdr Likes this wine: 92 Points
Magnum. Beautiful elegance, freshness and length. Distinctive vanilla notes. Seems like a Blanc de Blancs. Slightly aggressive finish in this format.
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1/1/1994 - sdr Likes this wine: 90 Points
Marin Wine Cellar bottle. Light pale yellow. Excellent mousse. Still closed in. Light but interesting flavors of pineapple and mixed citrus. Not too acidic. Obviously still young. Evolution should be interesting.
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11/18/1993 - bestdamncab Likes this wine: 85 Points
Champagne and Yquem Holiday Preview (Lafayette, Ca.): Great tiny bubbles formed a lovely mousse, good color in the glass, lots of fruit, wood, and yeast on the nose, tired on the palate, medium finish, storage? My #5, Group #4.
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10/1/1992 - sdr Likes this wine: 88 Points
At Jamin-Robuchon Paris, to accompany the fantastic Menu Crustaces, maybe the best meal of my life. The Cristal was a “bargain” at 980FF, the meal, not so much at 1100FF. Light gold. Light nose of wheat crackers. Foamy mousse of minute bubbles. Very aggressive and young. Good acidity but not sure if the fruit is up to the challenge. Even Cristal needs a few years to settle down, especially since it is disgorged so early.
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