From vineyards that are run organically, this iconic Champagne's latest iteration is as beautiful as ever. Textured, with a mineral undertow, the wine is just beginning to soften and show a balanced maturity.

For the warm and dry vintage this has tremendous freshness and elegance. The complex nose of citrus blossom, mint, lemon and lime zest opens up slowly as this aerates in the glass. The wine’s ample structure is still quite firm, which is a vintage characteristic, the mousse very fine but also very lively for an eight-year-old champagne. Cristal fans will love this as it is, but a year or two more in the bottle will do a lot for the very long mineral finish of this youthful masterpiece. A cuvee of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay, picked from all 45 Cristal vineyard plots. Tasted at the Cristal vertical tasting at the champagne house on July 6th, 2023. Drink from release.

Light-ish straw with a faint tint indicating red grapes, the bouquet shows some mushroom, also of pinot noir/meunier, and there's also celery, parsnip notes, while the palate is full, rich and powerful with concentration and depth. Clearly more intensity and concentration than the Collection wines tasted with it. There is very crisp mouth-feel with a final dryness that reverberates for a long time, the dryness thanks to some phenolic grip, which more than counters any sweetness from the dosage. It's very dry, with a seriously chalky finish, and shows this vintage's no-malolactic style. A wine of tremendous finesse, line and length. It's still tight and has yet to develop any toastiness, and will blossom with some time in the cellar. A triumph from a difficult year. Drink: 2023-2035.

I have tasted the 2015 Cristal three times so far - once as part of an extensive vertical I will be reporting on shortly, and then later in my office. Those tastings paint a portrait of a complex Champagne that is still finding its center. Tasted at the maison, the 2015 is rich, dense and explosive, with tremendous textural intensity and also a good bit of energy to back it up. Citrus confit, spice, ginger, chalk and dried flowers abound in a Champagne endowed with tremendous aromatic presence in a style that offers notable richness, but lighter than vintages such as 2012. There is a bit of the savoriness that is such a signature of the year, but it is nicely integrated in the wine’s fabric.