Cristal, Roederer Champagne Brut 2016

Light yellow gold in colour with a lively mousse of tiny bubbles. The aromas are fresh, alluring, with lightly smoky, "hazelnutty" notes and a suggestion of orange peel. As you taste, there's a salty lining to a satisfying core of deliciously ripe, citrus zesty fruit that's concentrated without being overly-rich or heavy, but finely textured and etched with an incisive backbone of ripe, citrusy acidity whose continuing saline notes add length to a finely balanced, youthful, hedonistic Champagne of serious depth and vinosity. That's the thing about 2014 Cristal. It's both a crowd-pleaser in a major key and at the same time a wine whose subtle nuances will appeal equally to the connoisseur. With a good decade of life ahead of it.