If there is one meal I look forward to all year long it is our annual New Year’s Eve dinner with Mick and Amy. As this is our big dinner of the year, we go all out and usually have a couple of high-end wines and this year’s dinner was no exception to that rule.
The first course was a bacon blue cheese dip with cracker and I paired this with a 2005 Cristal Champagne.
We have tried the 2002 and 2004 Cristal; the 2002 was very good but we loved the 2004 and it currently is the number one spot for Top Sparkling and Dessert wine here. I was curious to see if the 2005 would be more like the 2002 or the beloved 2004.
The first thing I noticed is Cristal has redesigned their packaging as the box now has a nice solid metal clasp holding it closed with 2005 Cristal engraved on it vs. the 2002/2004 packaging which just was a sticker with the year on it that held the box closed. It is a nice improvement as the sticker had a bad habit of peeling away/opening on its own.
The nose on the 2005 Cristal was powerful with easy to find aromas of nutmeg, yeast, gingerbread, frozen strawberries and licorice allsorts. Tasting the wine, green apple and ginger were the two dominate flavours with a lemon zest finish. Initially I found the wine to be delicate but as it opened up it became much more powerful. It was minerally yet it also had a creaminess to it as well. The structure on the wine was beautiful with crisp acidity balanced nicely against the fruit and alcohol. It was a fabulous pairing with the dip as it cut through the rich flavours of the dip with no issues. Truly a stunning wine.
Here is the group rating for the wine -Mick – 95, Mark - 94, Kathy – 95, Amy – 94, Overall – 94.5.
Here is the LCBO information on the wine –
CRISTAL BRUT CHAMPAGNE 2005
VINTAGES 268755
750 mL bottle
Price $ 287.95
Made in: Champagne, France
By: Louis Roederer
Release Date: Aug 31, 2013
Wine, Champagne
12.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Style: Rich & Complex
Varietal: Sparkling
Sugar Content: 11 g/L
Sweetness Descriptor: XD - Extra Dry
Tasting Note - Vibrant and mouthwatering, this offers a range of patisserie pear and apple fruit, candied lemon zest, pastry dough and marzipan notes set on a finely detailed texture, which imparts a great deal of finesse. The lasting finish echoes a smoky mineral note. Drink now through 2025. Score - 94. (Alison Napjus, winespectator.com, Nov. 30, 2012)
At a 94.5 Overall rating this wine has just become the highest rated wine on Zippy Sauce ever. My rating was the same as the 2004 at 94 points but Mick, Amy and Kathy all bumped their ratings a point higher than the 2004. This wine was amazing; I do flinch at the close to $300 a bottle price point and always wonder whether it is worth it or not. We did crack a bottle of the standard Roederer ($65-70 per bottle) after finishing the Cristal and I really like the Roederer but when you have it after a bottle of the flagship Cristal it is so badly outclassed it is silly. The 2005 Cristal is simply an amazing bottle of wine that is worth every penny of its price point.
No comments:
Post a Comment