Why Pay So Much?
Cristal has most, if not all, luxury brand desirable accolades such as:
Impeccable craftsmanshipSpecially cultivated grand cru Royal history & heritage Produced only as a vintage
Is The Cost Of Cristal Worth It?
The big question is what criteria the wine industry uses when pricing luxury champagne. Besides the said rich history and heritage, which certainly adds to the cost, the following are the elements that compound the cost of Cristal Bottle and many others in its league:
1. Masterful Craftsmanship, Vineyard Quality & Prestige
Cristal falls under the Grand Cru/ Premier Cru Category.
The masterful assemblage of quality Chardonnay (40%) and Pinot Noir (60%) Grapes from the grand cru plots and vines, which are almost 50 years, add prestige to Cristal. The producer uses a cultivation method called champagne terroir when tending to the grand cru. Champagne terroir is a delicate method involving a combination of the good and right type of soil, climate, exposure & human touch.
The producer follows an intricate, traditional way of champagne production called method champagnoise to make this first Prestige Cuvée in history.
In the year 2000, the producer adopted a biodynamic winemaking method of halting the usage of pesticides and even going as far as tilling the land with horses. Their tenacity has caused the House to bag the most coveted superlative 100-point score for its 2008 vintage, awarded in 2002 by Wine & Spirits magazine, a score that is hard to achieve for any prestigious wine in the market.
2. A Vintage Produce
Cristal is produced and sold only as Vintage Champagne. Vintage wine costs more than non-vintage because of the quality grapes from an exceptional harvest of a particular good year. Cristal does not get produced every year because the vintage year comes only a few times in a decade. This, coupled with the aging process adds extended time to the production process resulting in small and exclusively produced collections.
This Makes Cristal a Veblen Good:
A Veblen good contradicts the law of demand. This means when demand increases, the price goes up. Cristal is a high-quality exclusive product made well (a vintage), along with various other qualities that are unavoidably synonymous with a hefty price tag.
Cristal has an annual production of between 300,000 to 400,000 bottles, a comparably low number when looking at other Prestige Cuvée like the Dom Pérignon, which produces millions of bottles annually.
How Did Cristal Prestige Cuvée Come To Existence?
A Russian emperor commissioned the production of the Prestige Cuvée champagne; his request added to the exclusive stature, royal heritage, and history of the Cuvée. In 1876 Tsar Alexander II commissioned Louis Roederer to blend an exclusive Cuvée for him. The emperor also requested that the Cuvée be bottled in a clear bottle with a flat bottom so that he could ‘enjoy seeing the bubbles’. His actual reason was far from enjoyment. He requested a clear bottle because he feared assassination; he figured a dark bottle might open up an opportunity to hide a bomb. Louis Roederer obliged and subsequently commissioned a glassblower to make transparent lead-crystal bottles with a flat bottom.
Cristal, a French word for crystal, was named after the bottle material the Cuvée came within.
The crystal bottle also added another layer of luxury to the champagne. Louis Roederer used to produce Cristal exclusively for Tsar Alexander II until the Russian revolution of 1917. Cristal only became publicly available to the rest of the world in 1945.
Cristal is the golden juice that keeps getting accolades and continues to maintain its first Prestige Cuvée crown. Cristal’ Producer consistently makes efforts to elevate and stay relevant in the industry. The historical, traditional, and meticulous consistency with which the biggest family-owned champagne house produces the Cuvée cannot be ignored but admired and even followed.
Conclusion
This is a result-driven model that keeps both the fans and the price going up. Therefore a no expense spared affair in the masterful making of Lady Cristal followed by a no expense spared reciprocation by its investors and patrons puts it fair and square at the top along with other luxury giants. It should therefore not be a total surprise that this vintage lady comes with a hefty price tag. Regardless of price, Cristal is a sort after champagne in all corners of the globe led by the US, UK, Japan & Australia consecutively.
