Excellent 08. Chave and Allemand really nailed the difficult vintage in Northern Rhône, and 2008 Hermitage is showing beautifully tonight, fresh, elegant and detailed with aromas of juicy red berry fruit, bacon, roasted herbs and smoky minerals. While not an exceptionally deep and concentrated rendition in 2008, it’s really a considerable success, and it’s fully open, giving and ready to drink. — 23 days ago
Happy Mother’s Day to me! Have held this 2018 and so glad I did! — 7 days ago
Served around 55°F. The cork looked all kinds of nasty underneath the capsule but I was able to extract it, intact, with the help of a Durand. I then poured the bottle into a decanter about 30min prior to service. At the ripe age of 41, the 1983 pours a deep gold with a transparent core; medium viscosity with some slight signs of sediment. On the nose, the wine is vinous with notes of baked stone fruits: peach, apricot, marmalade, hazelnuts, baked lemon, and those gummy peach rings. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and the texture is creamy, buttery. I thought this was a lovely, mature Corton Charlemagne and while it is very much alive, its life-force is fading. Drink now. — 16 days ago
Awesome; green-yellow with butter-lemon sugar, pineapple, melon, underripe strawberry... really great cold. Would definitely enjoy again. — 17 days ago
Medium ruby hue with slight brick tinge. Bright bouquet of bramble, bubblegum, cream, fig, raspberry, strawberry, and vanilla, with additional aromas of forest floor, licorice, and smoke. Light body, with soft tannins and high acidity. Light finish of minerals and orange zest. Well-balanced. Aged very well. — 18 days ago
Tasted from magnum, the 2013 Cristal Rosé is ravishing. Dense, creamy and powerful, the 2013 captures all the qualities of the vintage, specifically the interplay of rich fruit from the warm summer and cooler inflections from a year that started late and ended late with a rare October harvest. Today, the 2013 is deep and beautifully seamless, but it is also young – far too young to be at its best. Dosage is 6.5 grams per liter, a bit less than for the standard bottlings, a decision taken to balance longer aging on the lees and a bit more residual sugar that is always left in the magnums after fermentation. Readers who can find the 2013 in magnum will experience one of the greatest thrills in wine. (Antonio Galloni, Vinous, March 2024)
— a month ago
Jeremy Shanker
Sommelier at RN74
Never not delicious. Love Cristal with a little age. — 6 hours ago