Louis Roederer Cristal 1983

Was 1983 a good year in Champagne?

Published vintage charts rate Champagne 1983 4 out of 5 stars and 4 out of 5. Near-perfect grapes, rich and ripe with great balance and length. The Pinots are aromatic and powerful, the Chardonnays show finesse and surprising body. Underrated.

A harsh winter into a cold, damp spring delayed flowering, then a sunny warm summer with adequate rain. An abundant 15,012 kg/ha from 26 September.

What the critics scored the 1983

3 critic scores from 3 reviewers, on the 100-point scale from 90/100 to 96/100. Score: 93.5 out of 100.

The dated reviews run from 1988 to 2018, young and mature bottles alike.

By score the 1983 ranks 33rd of 39 scored Louis Roederer Cristal vintages, 2.4 points below their review-weighted 95.9.

The 1980s by score: 1981 94.0, 1982 96.0, 1983 93.5, 1985 95.7, 1986 91.5, 1988 94.8 and 1989 96.0.

The 1983 Cristal is fabulous. Rich, ample and generous, the 1983 is incredibly inviting, with tons of class and personality. A wine of real volume and textural breadth, the 1983 has enough pedigree to drink well for many years. None of the elements stand out in the 1983, the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts. “Nineteen eighty-three is a different animal from some of the other wines of the decade,” Lecaillon explains. “It was a heavy crop, with a lot of fruit. There was so much wine in the cellar that the team could not get to everything in a timely fashion, and so there were some lots that started to oxidize a bit, and that, naturally, made the wine bigger.” In tasting, though, there are no off aromas or mushroomy flavors that suggest the wine is fading. If anything, the 1983 is spectacularly beautiful right now, even in the presence of other wines from more highly reputed vintages.

Rich and concentrated, packed with intense pear, toast, lemon and spice flavors that are well integrated and focused on the palate. The flavors are beautiful, but it could stand a little finesse. Drink now.

Absolutely delicious, the 1983 was both young and fresh AND mature and absolute class in a glass. Yarom, the Colonel himself, was there, and he made a special point to me of how good the 1979 was as well. Duly noted

What drinkers rate it

91.9 out of 100 from 32 drinker ratings, the most recent in February 2026.

That is 1.6 points below the critics' score.

Drinker rank: 36th of 44. The most-rated vintage has 559 ratings.

5 written notes, August 2023 to February 2026, rating it 88 to 96.

Y a tout dans ce champagne. Quelle sapidite, quel nez rond et frais (quelle jeunesse). Un verre gentillement servi par Theo, merci !! agrume brioche pomme miel

20 Top Wines of the 1983 Vintage: Champagne Showdown: All three bottles showed better than expected. Dom Perignon wins with 97pts - a symphony of stature, purity, and layered complexity. Its vibrant mix of fresh citrus and fruit elegantly intertwines with mature notes of burnt sugar and honey, all supported by a vivid acid line and a mineral backbone adding extra dimension. This DP is poised for further evolution over the next decade. Comtes de Champagne, at 95pts, impresses with its signature blend of brioche and butter, harmonizing with both fresh and baked fruit nuances, despite a bouquet tinged with cardboard hints. Cristal, scoring 93pts, initially reveals its age through oxidation, yet remarkably rejuvenates with air, gaining freshness, depth, and a captivating saline spine. Decanting: This needed quite a bit of air, extensive slow-ox is advised (2h?).

1983 vintage horizontal with >20 wines, mostly from Bordeaux. Key observations: 1/ Acceptable vintage for Champagne with DP over-delivering, 2/ Laville Haut Brion is a masterpiece among the whites, 3/ Bordeaux is going strong at 40 years of age with stand-outs Latour and Margaux. 4/ No need to chase any Napa’s from the vintage, 5/ off-piste Italians kept up impressively with Soldera an undisputed medalist. Tasting note:Cork broke while opening, hence probably not an ideal bottle. Baked pear and apple fruit with fresher herbal accents. Also slightly rubbery notes, adding floral top notes. Did appear marginally oxidized here and there, but after some time in the glass returning with pure burned sugar and Cognac flavors. While there were hardly any bubble left, the acidity was still nicely fresh. Not a representative bottle probably.

40 years on: A global 1983 retrospective: Red apple, some oxidative notes, some apple acidity, still good but much more evolved than the other wines next to it.

A celebration of 1983: From magnum. This was spectacular. Surprisingly fresh on the nose with toast, lemon, brioche, yeast, grapefruit, and a bit of honey. Perfectly balanced with nice acidity and lovely mousse on the palate. Long finish.

What it has traded at

One trade month on record, May 2016: 1 sale at £239 a bottle.

That last sale is 10 years old: history, not a quote.

Where to buy the 1983

1 offer from 1 merchant, newest first.

When to drink the 1983

1992 to 2033: 41 years, opening 9 years after the harvest.

Open at our 2026 snapshot, with 7 years to run.

Window length rank, longest first: 2nd of 33.

The 1983 against its neighbours

The 1983 beside its 4 nearest recorded years.

Here, by score, it places 4th of 5.