Cristal 2002 Late Release

Received this bottling about a week ago. The bottle identification on the back was L048747F100357. The Roederer app shows that the bottle was disgorged December 2014 with 9 g/l dosage and there was 17% oak.

This was a beautiful bottle of Champagne which seemed to show more age than I would have expected. First off the texture showed a light creamy mousse, with just enough effervescence. On the palate there was some brioche, soft lemon, honey, and apricot. The nose followed pretty closely. It was quite different from the 2008 and 2012 which i have tasted recently. There was just enough acidity to hold it together. I’m not sure that there is a huge amount of upside potential, but for the next few years this is really good.

Assuming the Roederer App is correct this bottle was 11 years on the Lees. I didn’t know that Cristal did a late disgorged bottling. But it was a very special!

As an aside I looked up the bottles of 2008 and 2012 that I have.

The 2008, L047256R100449, was disgorged July 2018, had a dosage of 8 g/l and there was 20% oak.

The 2012, L048527C103318, was disgorged April 2019, had a dosage of 7 g/l and there was 32% oak.

So as vintages go by, the dosage has been going down, the wood has been going up and the time on the lees was going down on these specific bottles. I enjoy them all!!

I’m not sure this is technically a “late disgorgement.” I went back to look through Galloni’s tasting notes, since he has quite a few, and he has had bottles disgorged in June 2007, December 2007, 2009 and 2010, the latter two which he referred to as “original” disgorgement. The two most recent notes on the Wine Advocate were also disgorged in 2009 and 2010. Your 2011 disgorgement bottle sounds like part of a series, although it dates four years later than the initial set of disgorgements. Maybe that is a “late disgorgement,” but it sounds like they have been disgorging on a regular basis over the years.

[Edit]: I seem to have reading comprehension problems. I thought I read your bottle had been disgorged in 2011. Now I see it says 2014. That is quite a bit later, and would be 11 years on the lees.

The bottle I had recently was coded as a re-release in March, 2021 of the original 2010 disgorgement; only twice has this house used all 42 plots that are reserved for Cristal in a wine and this is one and the 2015 is the other; the blend is 55% Pinot Noir, 45% Chardonnay which is a deviation from the usual 60/40.

It had a super mature fruit profile and an almost intense mouthfeel; it was almost abusively serious and made a statement of what happens with extended age and lees contact, 7 years in this case.

Also it’s not noted on the bottler as being a Late Release. The only difference is the vintage is in the upper right corner instead of in the oval in the middle of the label which is 1 of 3 bottles to be labeled this way in there new format.

There’s a lot more info on a previous thread: 2002 Cristal Late Release - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

Interestingly when I put my bottle identifier number in the iPhone app the disgorgement date is December 2014. When i put the code L047831E100178 from your post in the app the disgorgement date is September 2012?

You may want to do what I did and contact the house and ask the questions for clarity. If so, please share their reply here.