Ratings & Tasting Notes:

96 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous)

The 1989 Cristal emerges from an incredibly warm growing year, standing out as one of the hottest on record up to that point. It is a vintage that heavily favored Pinot Noir over Chardonnay, resulting in a beautifully rich, Pinot-leaning blend. Ample, creamy, and generous, the wine is in great shape today, throwing off nuances of sweet caramel, vibrant orange peel, apricot jam, and warming spice. It remains a silky, gracious, and totally understated expression of Cristal. Antonio Galloni, December 2018

92 points Wine Spectator

Rich, deep, remarkably ripe, and full-bodied, this vintage offers an incredibly luxurious drinking experience. The palate delivers pronounced, harmonious flavors of toasty almonds, rich baking spice, and a distinct hint of white chocolate. Boasting a highly firm, confident mouthfeel and a long, echoing finish, its flavors are maturing beautifully while retaining excellent evolution. Wine Spectator, April 1997

19/20 points Jancis Robinson

Massive scale. It presents a very, very ripe nose but manages to retain a magnificent level of structural tension on the palate. It delivers much more natural acidity and raw nerve than the subsequent 1990 vintage, with the core Chardonnay character showing through with great evidence. Jancis Robinson, November 2001

Cult Wines International Notes:

Louis Roederer’s iconic prestige cuvée, Cristal, stands as one of the ultimate, globally revered legends of Champagne, originally created in 1876 to satisfy the ultra-luxurious, demanding tastes of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Instantly recognizable by its signature flat-bottomed, transparent clear bottle—originally crafted from genuine lead crystal wrapped in anti-UV cellophane—this elite cuvée is only produced in exceptional, top-tier vintages. Traditionally sourced entirely from pristine, old-vine Grand Cru parcels, Cristal utilizes a precision-driven blend that typically favors roughly 60% Pinot Noir alongside 40% Chardonnay. To ensure its legendary structural longevity and lightning-bolt precision, the house completely blocks malolactic fermentation, meticulously preserving natural acidity to build an effortless balance of power, regal texture, and bright, crystalline minerality.

The 1989 growing season across Champagne was a historically unique, highly dramatic narrative characterized by intense solar heat and record-breaking sugar concentration. While an unseasonably warm spring was briefly threatened by a severe April frost that limited regional yields, a blazing hot, bone-dry summer quickly followed, marking 1989 as one of the warmest, earliest harvests on record. Under these conditions, the Pinot Noir blocks achieved a magnificent, highly concentrated phenolic ripeness, prompting winemaker Michel Pansu to increase the final blend to a heavily Pinot-dominant 64% structure. Following an extensive, pristine six-year maturation regime on its fine yeast lees within Roederer’s dark chalk cellars, the wine was disgorged with a classic, generous 11 g/L dosage, followed by an additional eight months of post-disgorgement bottle aging before commercial release.

At nearly four decades of maturity, the 1989 Cristal has evolved into a spectacular, deeply complex library treasure. The primary, high-energy citrus notes have gracefully given way to a multi-layered, tertiary profile of baked brioche, white truffles, honeyed apricots, candied grapefruit zest, and subtle hints of dried porcini. Supported by a finely integrated, ultra-soft bead of effervescence and held perfectly upright by an underlying core of vibrant chalky minerality, this historic vintage offers a remarkably deep, aristocratic tasting experience for serious collectors of aged Champagne royalty.