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The 2013 Cristal is a wine of extraordinary precision and tension. Searing acids drive a bold racy Champagne that won’t be ready to offer its best drinking anytime soon. In recent vintages Cristal has been quite open on release. That is far from the case with the 2013. Readers should plan on being quite patient. The blend is 60% Pinot Noir from A Verzy Verzenay Beaumont-sur-Vesle and 40% Chardonnay Mesnil Avize Cramant. Chef de Caves Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon was especially selective and used only 30 out of the potential 45 plots that are typically available for Cristal. About 32% of the lots were done in oak the rest in steel with the malolactic fermentation blocked across the board. It was an October harvest the sort of harvest that has become increasingly rare in Champagne. Lecaillon describes the summer as similar to 2012 but adds the vines were a month behind in their development. In tasting the 2013 reminds me of the 1996 in its austerity even more so than the epic 2008.