Dom Perignon vs Cristal: Who wins the battle of prestige?

When you want to toast to a special occasion, which champagne would you pick? There may be a mind boggling list to choose from with different styles and sweetness levels. There’s no denying that if you want to toast with the best luxury champagne, it boils down to Dom Perignon and Louis Roederer Cristal. 

Both are vintage champagnes, thus only produced during vintage years, unlike other champagne houses that produce their bubblies annually. When you have two equally famous bottles in front of you, how do you size them up? Let’s pop some champagne and find out.

Eye Candy Looks

If looks could kill, you would have been murdered by the dazzling gold hued design of Cristal. The signature wrap made of cellophane actually serves to protect the glass bottle from UV light, so make sure you only remove it when it’s time to serve. To differentiate this luxury cuvée in the 1800s, this champagne was bottled in a flat bottomed, transparent lead crystal bottle, giving it a luminous effect, that was how the brand Cristal came about. 

Dom Perignon may have a ubiquitous dark bottle, but they have up the ante with hand hammered metal shield labels by Lenny Kravitz, for the limited edition vintage 2008 and rose vintage 2006. Not content to rest on their laurels, Dom Perignon collaborated with luxury house Bvlgari to create an extremely limited edition (4 cases only!) Bvlgari Serpenti x Dom Perignon Rose; a serpentine necklace sensuously caressing the champagne bottle. How’s that for killer looks? 

The prestige cuvée of cuvées

Specifically made for Tsar Alexander II in 1876, Louis Roederer 2008 Cristal has a deep complex bouquet, with aromas of apple, pear and almonds, notes of citrus peels and light spice and ends with a piercing acidity and chalky minerality.

Dom Perignon beat the odds with their Vintage 2010. They faced challenging weather - 2 months of torrential rain poured in 2 days. It was a herculean task to even produce champagne, yet they managed to produce an incredible one, stepping out of the baptism of fire with the sweetness of tropical fruits of green mango, melon and pineapple, with notes of orange zest and a bouquet of peony, lilac and jasmine. 

Accolade 

So which is the best champagne out of the two? Based on the Luxury Institute’s Luxury Brand Status Index survey of Champagnes and Sparkling Wines, Dom Perignon was the clear winner. The HNWI cited Dom Perignon as “synonymous with the best in champagne”, for its consistent high quality, superb taste and social status.

While Cristal may have been outvoted by Dom Perignon for first runner up, and supporters may argue that Cristal deserves the top spot, always remember this quote: “My only regret in life is that I didn’t drink enough champagne”. Fret not, at Cellarbration, we have a well-stocked cellar of champagnes with free next day alcohol delivery, now you have every excuse to raise your flute and enjoy!