Wafting from the glass with aromas of mandarin oil, warm bread and raspberries, mingled with notes of clear honey, blanched almonds and pastry cream, the 1996 Cristal Rosé Vinothèque is showing superbly. It's full-bodied, tensile and searingly chalky, but this concentrated and intense wine's racy spine of acidity is beautifully integrated. This was the first blend Lécaillon presided over as a Roederer employee—three years before he was appointed chef des caves in 1999—and it was clearly a harbinger of great things to come. Amazingly, the finished pH is fully 2.82, yet the wine is perfectly balanced.

Then it was off to one of the most mind-boggling array of 1996 Champagnes I have ever seen. Imagine being able to liberally sample all of that vintage’s top wines at once. As I have recently tasted and reviewed many of the wines recently in my retrospective of the 1996 Champagnes, I won’t comment on each wine here, except to say that so many bottles seem to be growing with each passing year. The head of the class among the 1996s remains Krug’s Clos du Mesnil. I was equally impressed with all three Dom Pérignons and both Cristals.

Very slightly deeper pale amber than 1995. Acidity much more marked than on the 1995 rosé. Seems much more than one year younger than the rosé 1995. Very, very bright fruit. Still very edgy and unresolved. (JR)