CRITIC REVIEWS
Antonio Galloni
Interestingly, the 2013 Cristal Rose is more austere than the Blanc. It has plenty of vibrant energy and steeliness but also a touch less generosity today. I suspect the 2013 is going through a period of closure, which I take as a positive sign for its long-term prospects and aging potential likely to be measured in decades rather than years.
William Kelley
A candidate for wine-of-the-vintage honors in Champagne, Roederer's 2013 Cristal Rose is showing brilliantly, unfurling in the glass with notes of crisp orchard fruit, white flowers, red berries, stone fruit, freshly baked bread and tangerine oil. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, the vintage's bright girdling acids are amply cloaked in exuberant, expressive and notably concentrated fruit; so while this Cristal is as tensile and age-worthy as one would expect, it's also impressively fleshy and generous given the year. Concluding with an intensely sapid finish, the 2013 isn't as overtly structured as the muscular, tightly wound 2012: rather, it's the 2013's alliance of cut and flesh, precision and charm that's so compelling this year. This is another banner vintage for what I consider the reigning champion of the region's tA te de cuvee bottlings, and it will be worth an effort to acquire.
JancisRobinson.com
This was the first wine served at a lunch in London to celebrate 50 years of Cristal Rose and was paired with the 2012. From a notably late-ripening growing season. Dosage 7 g/l. Magnum. This was by far the most youthful wine served in every way, and still very tense but surely it will dramatically outlast the 2012. (JR)