Hi my name is konstantin baum i’m a Master of wine and today i’m going to Tell you Everything you need to know about one of The greatest wines Coming out of the champagne region and We’re also going to taste the wine the Louis reuterall crystal [Music] The company was initially founded as Dubois perez in 1776 But louis reuters inherited the estate From his uncle In 1832 and as he was a man with great Ambition He decided to name it after himself in 1833. Louis rodera also decided to buy more Vineyards when he took over The winery and it’s thanks to this Strategy that louis rodriguez winery Today Is one of the biggest landholders in Champaign the winery also went after the Export markets as champagne became more And more popular They started exporting wine to the us in The 1870s And were also very successful at the Imperial court of russia For alexander the second they actually Developed A special cuvee which is now considered The first prestige cuvee
Of its kind in 1876 the crystal Because that bottle still pays homage to This history the tsar was scared to be Assassinated and he therefore Asked for the bottle to be clear so that He could see the liquid inside The bottle he also asked for a flat Bottom bottle because he was scared that Someone could plant A bomb into the bottom of the bottle if This sounds paranoid to you then you Clearly don’t know about the fate of Tsar alexander ii He was killed by a bomb after a number Of failed assassination attempts And he bled to death with his legs torn Off His stomach ripped open and his face Mutilated The bottle was made by a flamish Glassmaker who used led glass Which was also known as crystal hence The name even though the bottle looks Similar today the wine tastes very Different Back then crystal probably had 100 grams Per liter of residual sugar And tasted very sweet even though it was Already famous pristine was not Commercially available until 1945 when it was released to the broader Market By the way the yellow wrap which is Iconic today
Wasn’t there in the beginning it was Only added later to protect the wine Inside the clear bottle from uv rays That would change The smell and the taste of the wine Today the river is still family owned Which is increasingly rare amongst Bigger producers of champagne They also encourage the passenger to be Shown contested alond in bordeaux Their own ruler estate in california Champagne deutsche and domain odd In provence among other wineries if you Liked this video so far then please give Me a like it would really help me out And it only takes A second really special about rider is That they own 240 hectares of vineyards In champaign Which supply roughly 70 of the total Fruit that they need for their wines This is special because one hectare of Vineyards in champaign can easily cost a Million euros If you find anyone who wants to sell it To you owning all this land Really helps them control the quality of The food that they get Roughly half of their vineyards are now Certified organic and the other half is In the process of being certified They also do some biodynamics in some of Their vineyards and this was a big big Step for them that involved quite a lot
Of risk When they first started chilling the Soils and stopped using herbicides in The vineyards The yields drop by 30 percent which is Insane I think none other than a family Business with a very long-term Perspective on what they do Is able to take a step like this if you Have a company that has shareholders you Probably won’t be able to do that for The castal they use grapes from 45 Different parcels and they pick the best Ones every vintage The blend for the 2012 vintage was 60 Pinot noir and 40 chardonnay and the Wines generally don’t undergo malolactic Conversion The only exception was in 1988 and some Of the 2008 base wine Also didn’t undergo malolactic Conversion not having melodic conversion Means that the wines taste fresher and More lively when it comes to wine making For crystal sometimes the base wine was Aged in oak and sometimes the base one Wasn’t asian oak The 2012 was aged in oak 32 Of the wine spent some time in 95 hector Liter orcas And the disaster of the wine is 7.5 Grams per liter So let’s talk about the vintage 2012
Jean-baptiste le cajon the chef de Carver louis royale said It is a great vintage probably better Than 1996 and close to 1990 on average But in some special locations it could Well be better than that Closer to a 1947. this sounds pretty Good but the vintage wasn’t easy Yields were actually pretty low because Of frost hail and disease early in the Season but in all this things turned Around Dramatically and they were able to Harvest really great fruit At louis rivera they were actually Harvesting the first organically Certified grapes in 2012. My motto stacked rocks like colorado Auto of the champagne Crystal by the bottle in the 1990s and Early 2000s Kristal actually became a symbol in Hip-hop culture for success And was mentioned in lyrics by jay-z Tupac and the notorious b.i.g Tupac actually created the style Cocktail and named it dirk passion Which was a blend of cristal and alize Gold passion if you don’t know what that Is It’s a blend of vodka cognac and passion Fruit The falling out happened when in 2006 The ceo of louis rivera said in an
Interview that he views The association between hip-hop and Castel with curiosity and serenity And he also said what can we do we Cannot forbid people from buying it Jay-z thought those comments were racist And decided that he’s not going to sell Costal in his clubs And stop buying the stuff for himself i Don’t know whether the outrage was Justified but the Comments certainly had a big impact on The market for kristall For one there are far less references to Girl style and rap lyrics today and That’s for sure but also jay-z bought His own Champagne label among the brilliant Which became very successful And just recently sold a fifty percent Share of that company To roidada’s biggest competitor the Louis vuitton muay hennessy group So now you want to know how much this Bottle of champagne cost i went on wine Searcher and checked and the average Price is 280 Us dollars which is a lot of money and You might now wonder Why is this wine so expensive and louis Rivera would probably say Well it costs a lot of money to make a Wine like this you have very low yields And it’s very labor intensive and the
Wine spends a lot of time in bottle But the true answer is because the Market is prepared To pay this much money for this bottle Of wine it’s a luxury Product and people are ready to pay a Lot of money For an experience as great as louis Reuters crystal promises For now i’ve talked enough it’s time to Taste the stuff I’m using my big riddle champagne glass Which is definitely a glass that you Should use A bigger glass for great champagne like This i always thought that the design of The Royal reicus style bottle is a bit Strange it’s quite flashy But the wine is a real classic so let’s Taste it This is beautiful it smells of bright Peaches lemon tart Hazelnuts and brioche it’s very complex Very rich And welcoming Yeah on the palette it really grips you It has a lot of power but it has so much Freshness and liveliness and it really Yeah It changes your palate it’s beautiful Beautiful I think i need to eat something now with This wine
What could i eat so with this super Famous champagne i decided to eat Something Very simple great piece Of cheese So very often people think that if they Have a great great wine they need A great very complex meal to go with it I don’t agree with that in this case i Really wanted to have something very Simple but high quality With this beautiful champagne the theory Is this cheese is Creamy rich and beautiful and The piercing fresh acidity of the Champagne will kind of make the cheese More lively and more exciting so let’s Try it This is very good cheese It’s an excellent shower which is a Beautiful cheese in general and this is A very good one Very nice the wine actually gives the Cheese A lot more freshness and liveliness and Goes Really well with this cheese i think the Crystal is maybe a little bit too fine And too elegant Because the cheese has a bit more aroma Than i thought it would But yeah it’s a good cobble it’s a good Combo so last but not least i have to Give this one a score on the 2012
Crystal is actually one of the highest Rated champagnes of all time Winners gave it 98 points and robert Parker gave it 97 plus i think this is A near perfect champagne it’s just Beautiful it has everything It needs and even more so i would give This one 98 points well done so thank you for Watching if you like this video then Please Like it down here subscribe to my Channel if you haven’t done so already There are more and more and more Exciting videos coming up so stay tuned My question of the day is have you ever Tasted krista Comment down below i would be interested In hearing Which vintages you’ve tasted i hope i See you guys again soon Until then stay thirsty [Music] You