Ratings & Tasting Notes:

99 points — Decanter, October 2017
The 1990 season unusually produced both high sugars and high acidity, yielding a Cristal that is ripe, rich, limpid and dazzling on nose and palate. Nearly three decades of bottle age have mellowed and condensed the flavours into citrus, candied fruit, almond, pear, truffle and gingerbread, over a creamy, silky texture that belies the wine’s length and depth. Beautifully mature and ready, with no urgency to drink it, thanks to a vein of life-giving acidity. The reviewer’s verdict: “Pure nectar.”

97 points — Wine Advocate, June 2018
Still a superb and amazing prestige Champagne, far from over-matured or faded. As rich as it is pure and finessed, revealing a mineral tension and youthful freshness the reviewer called “nothing short of stunning” given the low-acidity vintage — proof that substance and terroir matter more than acidity alone.

97 points — Vinous, November 2024
A rich, exotic beauty. Apricot, tangerine oil, spice and baked pastry are all signatures of a mature Champagne, yet the 1990 remains fresh, vibrant and full of life, its volume and resonance making a second and third taste impossible to resist. A transitional Cristal, made by Chef de Cave Michel Pansu with a young Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon learning at his side.

95 points — John Gilman, March 2018
Now at the apogee of peak maturity and absolutely lovely. A deep, complex nose of baked pear and peach, a touch of white truffle, almond and walnut, limestone soil, gentle smokiness and the beginnings of honey to come. Pure, full-bodied and utterly refined on the palate, with a lovely core, still-vibrant mousse, excellent complexity and grip, and a long, poised, seamlessly balanced finish. Gilman noted the muscular character of the vintage has given way to Cristal’s inherent elegance. Drink 2018 to 2035.

94 points — Wine Spectator

Cult Wines International Notes:

Cristal was created in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II, who asked Louis Roederer to set aside the house’s finest cuvée for his court each year. The flat-bottomed bottle of clear lead crystal was made to his specification, so that nothing could be concealed beneath it. The house remains family-owned, unusual in Champagne, and owns the great majority of the vineyards its grapes come from, some 240 hectares across the Montagne de Reims, the Côte des Blancs and the Vallée de la Marne. Cristal is declared only in years judged worthy, drawn from a strictly limited set of crus, and given six years in the Reims cellars followed by a further eight months in bottle after disgorgement.

1990 was one of the legendary Champagne vintages, and an unusual one: the season delivered both high sugars and firm acidity, a combination that rarely occurs together. This bottling is 62% Pinot Noir and 38% Chardonnay, disgorged in 1996 after five years on the lees. Thirty-six years on, critics describe a wine that has drawn its flavours together rather than faded, showing citrus and candied fruit alongside baked pear, apricot, almond and walnut, white truffle, gingerbread and pastry, over a creamy, silky texture and a still-vibrant mousse. The through-line in every account is freshness: a vein of acidity that holds the whole thing up. Fully mature, and by consensus in no hurry at all.

Bottle Size:

750 mL

Storage History:

Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.

Condition:

Please note: The bottle shown is the exact bottle being sold.

Outstanding condition. Some ultra-fine sediments are present. Please allow the bottle to rest before consuming if possible.