Roederer announces Cristal Late Release 2008 and Cristal 2018

What happened

Roederer has announced the release of two distinct expressions of Cristal: the Cristal Late Release 2008 and the Cristal 2018. The announcement was made on 23 September 2026. The Late Release designation applied to the 2008 indicates that the wine has spent an extended period on its lees before disgorgement, a process that distinguishes it from a standard vintage release. The 2018, meanwhile, represents the house's most recent vintage offering under the Cristal label.

Why it matters

Cristal occupies a singular position within Champagne's prestige cuvée landscape. For a house of Roederer's standing to bring forward two releases simultaneously — one a late-disgorged expression of the celebrated 2008 vintage, the other a new vintage entirely — is a notable event for the region. The 2008 harvest has long been regarded as one of the most compelling of its era in Champagne, and a late-disgorged rendition offers an opportunity to encounter that vintage in a markedly different state of evolution. The arrival of the 2018 vintage, for its part, extends the Cristal timeline into a more recent chapter of the house's history.

Context

Cristal is produced by Roederer, one of the few remaining independently owned grandes maisons in Champagne. The cuvée has been at the apex of the house's portfolio for generations and is widely considered among the benchmarks of the prestige cuvée category. Late-disgorged releases, sometimes referred to as late releases or récemment dégorgé expressions, are a practice employed by a number of Champagne houses to offer collectors and enthusiasts an alternative perspective on a given vintage — one shaped by prolonged autolytic ageing. The dual announcement of the 2008 Late Release and the 2018 vintage underlines Roederer's continued commitment to presenting Cristal across different stages of its development.