Why Pay So Much?
- Luxurious
- Fine
- Prestigious
- Exclusive
A wine with impeccable craftsmanship and a long royal history and heritage is produced only as a vintage. ..
Is The Cost Of Cristal Worth It?
- The wine must be of high quality to justify the price.
- The wine must be aged in a specific manner to justify the cost.
- The wine must have a certain level of complexity and flavor to justify the price.
1. Masterful Craftsmanship, Vineyard Quality & Prestige
This wine falls under the Grand Cru/ Premier Cru Category.
The Cristal wine is made from 40% Chardonnay and 60% Pinot Noir grapes. The grapes are almost 50 years old, and were grown in a cultivation method called champagne terroir. This method involves a combination of the good and right type of soil, climate, exposure & human touch.
The Prestige Cuvée is made with a traditional champagne production method called method champagnoise. This means that the champagne is produced in a single step, using a unique and intricate process.
In 2000, the producer adopted a biodynamic winemaking method of halting the usage of pesticides and even going as far as tilling the land with horses. Their tenacity has caused the House to bag the most coveted superlative 100-point score for its 2008 vintage, awarded in 2002 by Wine & Spirits magazine.
2. A Vintage Produce
Vintage Champagne is more expensive than non-vintage because of the quality grapes from an exceptional harvest of a particular good year. Cristal does not get produced every year because the vintage year comes only a few times in a decade. This, coupled with the aging process adds extended time to the production process resulting in small and exclusively produced collections. ..
This makes Cristal a Veblen good: It is a valuable glass that has high quality and is durable.
High-quality exclusive products, such as Cristal champagne, often go up in price when demand increases. This is because these products are seen as luxurious and worth the extra money. ..
Prestige Cuvée Cristal has an annual production of between 300,000 and 400,000 bottles. This is comparably low when looking at other Prestige Cuvée like the Dom Pérignon, which produces millions of bottles annually.
How Did Cristal Prestige Cuvée Come To Existence?
The Prestige Cuvée champagne is a prestigious wine that is only available to those who have a royal lineage and are associated with the Russian monarchy. In 1876, Tsar Alexander II commissioned Louis Roederer to blend an exclusive Cuvée for him. The emperor also requested that the Cuvée be bottled in a clear bottle with a flat bottom so that he could ‘enjoy seeing the bubbles’. His actual reason was far from enjoyment. He requested a clear bottle because he feared assassination; he figured a dark bottle might open up an opportunity to hide a bomb. Louis Roederer complied and subsequently commissioned a glassblower to make transparent lead-crystal bottles with a flat bottom.
The Cuvée was named after the crystal bottle material it came within. ..
The crystal bottle also added another layer of luxury to the champagne. Louis Roederer used to produce Cristal exclusively for Tsar Alexander II until the Russian revolution of 1917. Cristal only became publicly available to the rest of the world in 1945. ..
Cristal is the most prestigious champagne in the world. It has held its first prestige cuvee crown for many years and continues to produce high-quality champagne. The producer of Cristal consistently makes efforts to elevate its status in the industry and stay relevant. Its historical, traditional, and meticulous consistency is admirable and should be followed by other champagne producers. ..
Conclusion
This is a result-driven model that keeps both the fans and the price going up. Therefore, a no expense spared affair in the making of Lady Cristal followed by a no expense spared reciprocation by its investors and patrons puts it fair and square at the top along with other luxury giants. It should therefore not be a total surprise that this vintage lady comes with a hefty price tag. Regardless of price, Cristal is a sort after champagne in all corners of the globe led by the US, UK, Japan & Australia consecutively.
