It is hype and they are riding it to the bank...... Thank the rappers for the surge and that's why it's reasonably "new". Others out there that are less expensive and better...... But, if you want to impress the ladies, it's Cristal table service...
Louis Roederer was founded in 1776; Cristal was first created in 1876 for Alexander II of Russia and became known as the "Champagne of the Tsars." Here's some other info shared by a few peeps with interesting insights into Champagne during WWII. http://stratsplace.zeroforum.com/zeropost?cmd=reply&id=83608 Available from quite a few places for 200 bucks a bottle. http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=louis+roederer+cristal+champagne&hl=en&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=online&price1=&price2=225.00&lnk=prsugg ____ Bits and pieces Copy/Pasted from archived Wall Street Journal - 11/02/89 http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~wilensky/cs288/assign4/data/wsj9_001.eos One of the fastest growing segments of the wine market is the category of superpremiums - - wines limited in production , of exceptional quality (or so perceived, at any rate ), and with exceedingly high prices. For years, this group included a stable of classics - - Bordeaux first growths ( Lafite - Rothschild , Latour , Haut - Brion , Petrus ) , Grand Cru Burgundies ( Romanee - Conti and La Tache ) deluxe Champagnes (Dom Perignon or Roederer Cristal) , rarefied sweet wines (Chateau Yquem or Trockenbeerenauslesen Rieslings from Germany , and Biondi - Santi Brunello Riserva from Tuscany). These first magnitude wines ranged in price from $40 to $125 a bottle. In the last year or so, however, this exclusive club has taken in a host of flashy new members. The classics have zoomed in price to meet the competition, and it almost seems that there's a race on to come up with the priciest single bottle , among current releases from every major wine region on the globe. In Champagne , some of the prestige cuvees are inching toward $100 a bottle. The first Champagne to crack that price barrier was the 1979 Salon de Mesnil Blanc de Blancs. The ' 82 Salon is $115. Roederer Cristal at $90 a bottle sells out around the country and Taittinger's Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs is encroaching upon that level. "There are certain cult wines that can command these higher prices," says Larry Shapiro of Marty's , one of the largest wine shops in Dallas. Mr. Pratt remarked that he thinks steeper prices have come about because producers don't like to see a hit wine dramatically increase in price later on. Even if there is consumer resistance at first, a wine that wins high ratings from the critics will eventually move. "There may be sticker - shock reaction initially," said Mr. Pratt, "but as the wine is talked about and starts to sell, they eventually get excited and decide it's worth the astronomical price to add it to their collection. It ' s just sort of a one - upsmanship thing with some people," added Larry Shapiro. Image has, of course, a great deal to do with what sells and what doesn't, and it can't be forced. Wine merchants can't keep Roederer Cristal in stock , but they have to push Salon le Mesnil, even lowering the price from $115 to $90. It ' s hardly a question of quality - - the 1982 Salon is a beautiful wine, but, as Mr. Pratt noted, people have their own ideas about value. ____ So, in 1989, Cristal was flying off the shelves at 90 bucks a pop.
Why does a 16-year-old kid know much about champagne? Has he even tasted it for the price it costs? A future member of the Gold-Collar club? Does any champagne break the $1,000-per-bottle mark retail (not the clubs and restaurants) that is not just an "one-off", but a label or brand?
Looks like the price may be dropping a bit...so much for picking up a good bottle of Dom at a decent price. Jay-Z Launches Boycott of Cristal After Exec's Comments
Here's a tip for those of you who imbibe and want to add a little more kick to your Champagne: take a clean cooking syringe or its equivalent and inject into the glass as soon as it is poured, a goodly amount of Framboise Eau D'Vie. Not the flavored liquor, but the marc- the french brandy crushed from the vines. If you don't get a wicked headache afterwards, you will enjoy the the palate of champagne together with the acceleration of the bubbles carrying high octane brandy into your blood stream. Please do not drive after a few of these- And yes, I was definitely around in the 80's.
I've got an interesting story for this thread... Last semester one of my classes was called Old World Wines, I took it for fun, but at UNLV here in Vegas the class is for students in training to be somiliers(sp?). Anyway, we had lots of guest speakers that were big wine guys here in town from top restruants, and for our Champagne lecture, we had a sales representaive from Moet & Chandonne(sp?). Their top of the line products are the Dom Perrigon Champagnes, and after he went on and on why they are so wonderful, a student asked about Cristal. I guess he would be extreemly biased, but he said Cristal is a nice wine, but mostly "MTV Rapper" marketing. He was slamming them for declaring vintages that other companys would have not thought were good enough years just to meet their demand, and the Dom's were much better wines. However, just before he came to our class he had just came from doing a training for the servers at Pure nightclub in Ceasars, where they sell bottles of Cristal like hotcakes at $800 a bottle.... so go figure. I guess you don't have to be an expert in Champagne if you just wanna act like a "baller".
