The 2004 Cristal Rosé is also stellar. Here, time in bottle has added textural depth and Pinot Noir resonance, but without detracting from the wine’s essential tension and cut. Crushed rocks, white pepper, kirsch, mint and red plum fruit all race across the palate. I would love to spend all day with this. The 2004 Rosé has always been special. Today, it is in especially fine shape. At times, I get the feeling it is getting younger with age! -- Antonio Galloni

Few of the noble wines of the world have the effortless grace of Cristal Rosé. The pinot noir for the blend, planted in the 1960s, grows in the center of the slope in Aÿ. Its flavors are more focused on the soil than fruit, as if the vines are bent on extracting the scent of fossilized seashells from the limestone their roots explore. Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon blends the pinot noir with 40 percent chardonnay from Avize, creating a wine with flavors that reach the horizon line, and an ethereal fragrance that last for minutes after each taste, bright, weightless, elusive and grand.

With red berry and currant aromas on the pure and salty, complex and delicately vinous nose, the 2004 Cristal Rosé is a juicy but structured, vibrantly fresh and energetic cuvée with very fine tannins, great lightness, finesse and elegance. - Stephan Reinhardt