The 2000 Cristal Rosé Vinothèque is similarly striking, soaring from the glass with notes of confit orange and stone fruit mingled with honeycomb, freshly baked bread and subtle hints of fresh field mushrooms. Full-bodied, vinous and multidimensional, it's ample and layered, with a concentrated core of fruit, lively acids and a long, sapid finish. It's a remarkable wine in its prime today.

Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon never seems to rest on his laurels. Roederer is already one of the region's leaders in farming, having committed, two decades ago, to a plan that most other grandes marques are only now beginning to emulate—an evolution outlined in more detail in the March 2020 Week 1 Issue of The Wine Advocate, to which I refer readers looking for more insights into this house's methodology. This year's news, nine years in the making, is the end of Brut Premier and its replacement by Brut Collection: a new cuvée that's thoroughly described in the accompanying tasting notes. Meanwhile, Lecaillon continues to tread where others will follow: he's rethinking bubbles in light of the richer, more vinous wines delivered by a warmer climate, opting for lower atmospheric pressure in some cuvées than others (something for which there's ample historic precedent in Champagne, I should add). If wine is a cultural as well as an agronomic product, Lecaillon's tenure chez Roederer is amply demonstrating what can be achieved when a chef des caves isn't merely a technician but rather someone who understands what excellence in wine is all about.

RP 96/100

Drink Date:2021 - 2035