The 2006 Cristal is comprised of a blend of fifty-five percent pinot noir and forty-five
percent chardonnay, with twenty percent of the vins clairs having been barrel-fermented for this
vintage. Despite the 2006...
The 2006 Cristal is comprised of a blend of fifty-five percent pinot noir and forty-five
percent chardonnay, with twenty percent of the vins clairs having been barrel-fermented for this
vintage. Despite the 2006 vintage’s predilection towards precociousness, there is no sign of this
character in this beautiful rendition of Cristal, which offers up a deep, youthful and very serious
bouquet of apple, delicate tangerine, brioche, fresh almond, very classy limestone minerality,
incipient smokiness, a touch of orange peel and a floral topnote redolent of white lilies. On the
palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and impeccably balanced, with a great core of fruit,
laser-like focus, utterly refined mousse, crisp acids and superb length and grip on the very pure
and primary finish. Structurally, the 2006 Cristal is decidedly more open than its 2005 counterpart, but aromatically the wine is certainly not more developed and remains a young and
very beautiful bottle of Champagne. I really love the background influence from the barrel
fermentation here, which gives the wine a hint of roundness out of the blocks, but which does not
intrude on the classically racy style of young Cristal. The 2006 Cristal will certainly reach its
apogee earlier than the 2005, but this is still a young wine and deserves at least a handful of years
in the cellar prior to drinking. 2018-2040+.