Louis Roederer

Cristal was created in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II of Russia — the first prestige cuvee any Champagne house had ever made.

The clear crystal bottle wasn't a style choice. The Tsar, wary of assassination, wanted to be able to see there was nothing hidden beneath the glass, and asked for a clear, flat-bottomed bottle instead of the traditional dark, punted one. Roederer commissioned a Flemish glassmaker to build it, and the shape has defined Cristal ever since.

It stayed a private, Russian-court wine until the 1917 revolution ended that arrangement — Cristal wasn't sold commercially until 1945.