The 2014 Cristal Rosé is fascinating to taste next to the 2015 and a few older vintages, as it is decidedly linear and taut, signatures that are typical of the year. Cranberry, chalk, mint, white pepper and blood orange...

The 2014 Cristal is a dark horse, a wine built along linear lines rather than opulence, and from a year that generated very little enthusiasm at the time. A cold, wet summer and attacks from the Suzuki fly at harvest were...