Cristal 2008 vs Dom Perignon 2008

Comparative tasting of Cristal 2008 Vs Dom Perignon 2008

Hand on heart, the association with Cristal is crystal-fresh and how not to believe in psychology and that the name does not matter, even though the label is in cosy-warm colours.

For the last 10 years, I have been looking at Champagnes and sparkling wines of the traditional way through (first of all) the prism of the dosage and how it shows itself every year and integrates, and then through the quality of the vintage that the winemaker has manipulated with the blend and varieties from certain zones.

Of course, tasting a mono-year without the ’embellishments’ of other years is much more interesting technically, but it doesn’t always work out. DP 2008 – pure wine of one year.

 

By vintage.
2008 really was an amazing year. The ‘greyish’ summer didn’t promise anything special, but the dry autumn was very good and the grapes were harvested later than usual, but with the right juicy ripeness needed for sparkling versions.
DP cellar master Richard Geoffroy commented on the year:

Geoffroy was quoted in the Financial Times as saying, “It was a miracle year. The whole summer ripening period was so-so – gloomy, overcast, and grey. We had accepted it was going to be average, but then, just a couple of days before picking, it became outstanding. So the strategy became to hold the picking back so that it would be as slow as could be. It ended up being one of the longest harvests ever, close to four weeks. So much of 2008’s grandeur comes from working with those constraints and turning them into opportunities.”

In this pairing, the DP should definitely be tried first.

 

Dom Perignon 2008
White flowers, salt, oysters.
Tingling with spice on the finish
A little vanilla sweetness on the finish, as if the expedition liqueur hasn’t integrated yet.

It’s been so many years, but the wine is still a work in progress. And how great it is to still feel the flowers at this age. And there are no slightly underripe greenish lemon notes. The separate art of picking the grapes exactly on the day you need them.

Vibrating long finish. Endlessly long aftertaste and it still needs decades to develop, not at peak at all.

Dom Perignon blend: Made from a secret blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Don’t open it yet!

 

Cristal 2008
Denser, feeling more ripeness and more peaches.
It was 2008 that had more oak and more malolactic in the composition than other vintages.
Sugar is at 8g/litre, but it is fully integrated. In the DP it is 5g/litre.
This 2008 Cristal is ready to taste now and can be decanted for those who prefer a Burgundy style of wines.

Сristal blend: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay (у DP – 50/50) 
Winemaking: 20% vinified in oak casks, 16% underwent the malolactic conversion
Ageing: 10 years (disgorged in September 2017) – the longest ever cellaring time for Cristal
Dosage: 8 g/l – the lowest ever dosage.