Staff Notes:
"The 2009 Cristal is a beauty, with incredible richness as well as elegance, which are the hallmarks of this cuvée. Always a rough blend of 60/40 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from estate vineyards, it has a toasty, yet pure bouquet of stone fruits, rising bread, white flowers, and toasted bread, as well as a terrific sense of chalky minerality. While it’s not built around sheer richness and power (à la Krug), it’s perfectly balanced, has a fine, fine mousse, and shines for its class and purity. Bravo! It’s going to keep for another two decades." 97 Jeb Dunnuck

"A very rich and full-bodied Cristal that harks back to 2006 or 1989 in style. It's round and rich, which underlies the ripeness of the vintage. Lots of dried-apple and pineapple character with bread dough and flan flavors. The bubbles are so fine you almost don't notice them. Very vinous style." 97 James Suckling

"Cristal is a cuvée made with grapes from the Grands Crus of Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne and Cotes des Blancs with the wine sitting on the lees for around six years before aging for eight months in the bottle after it was disgorged, with a dosage of 8g/l. In the glass the wine has a luminous golden color and an intense and fresh aroma from the fullness of the fruit with notes of citrus, ripe passion fruit, star anise and gooseberry, followed by a gourmandize sensation of hazelnut butter and toasted barley with a saline hint that will return in the flavor but which in the nose is a cloud of chalk. The mouthfeel has volume and tension, scenic presence and pure freshness, a giant step that animates the dynamic depth and wins you over with its energy that does not fade for a long time." 97 Points Danieli Cernilli