Champagne Louis Roederer "Cristal" Brut Vintage 2014

Varietal: 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay; 32% oak fermentation in those same proportions, no chaptalization, no malolactic and a dosage of 7g/L. From organically farmed grapes.  From 45 separate plots covering just under 200 acres spread between the villages of Verzeny, Verzy, Beaumont-sur-Vesle, Aÿ, Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and Cramant.

Taste: Complex nose with lemon and grapefruit aromas, as well as closed red apple, blood orange, light biscuit spices and toasted hazelnuts. Super fresh. The palate starts pithy and fleshy with flavors of ripe black cherry and mandarin orange fruit, raw almond, anise and cardamom spice as well as a touch of honeycomb. Expansive and mouth-filling build that is driven by concentrated fruit, Then it tightens and turns to a more mineral edge. The texture is silky, the bubbles joyfully integrated and the finish resourceful and precise.