Wine Vault: Krug Champagne
Krug is my favorite Champagne house. Founded in 1843, Krug sells a half million bottles of Champagne annually, split between its Tete de Cuvee blend called "Grand Cuvee", a single vineyard chardonnay-based "Clos du Mesnil", Krug Rose, and its vintage Krug bottlings. Krug is a traditionalist in still barrel fermenting its wines that will be made into its Champagnes, and in its masterly approach to blending lots from up to ten separate vintages to maintain the quality and style of the "Grand Cuvee". The Grand Cuvee is the most often seen Krug. Unique amongst the Tete de Cuvee Champagnes, Krug's Grand Cuvee is a non-vintage blend of up to ten separate vintages. In some releases, as many as sixty separate wines will be blended into the Grand Cuvee. Since 1973, Krug has also produced a Rose. While Krug's house style for its non-rose bubblies is for a big, powerful style, the rose is surprisingly delicate. A blend of all three major grapes of Champagne: chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier, Krug's rose is surprisingly light salmon in color, with the emphasis clearly on finesse. The single vineyard Clos du Mesnil (dating back to 1698) is located in the heart of the Cotes des Blancs in the ancient town of Mesnil-sur-Oger. Made from 100 percent chardonnay, it is as fine as any wine made anywhere in the world from the chardonnay grape. The town of Mesnil is best known for the remarkable wines made by the firm of Salon, though its greatest wine is clearly Krug's Clos du Mesnil. The Krug family purchased this vineyard in 1971, but it was not until 1979 that the first Clos du Mesnil was released. In comparison to vintage Krug, Clos du Mesnil tends to mature at a more rapid rate, often reaching its peak at twelve to fifteen years of age, and drinking marvelously up until the age of twnety-five. The vintage-dated releases of Krug are clearly Champagne's longest lived wines. Usually released seven yeras after the vintage, it is rare for a vintage Krug to really enter its plateau of maturity until it has reached its twentieth birthday.
In my experience, all of Krug's wines benfit from addtional cellaring after release, though the "Grand Cuvee" is certainly a joy to drink right out of the blocks. Along with Dom Perignon, this is Champagne's most cellar-worthy house. Here in New York, the Grand Cuvee often suffered from mishandling in the "pipeline" in the past, but happily Krug has now settled on a distributor who is passionate about properly handling wine. The Grand Cuvee has never tasted better in the Big Apple! (The Krug Rose, certainly this house's most fragile wine, is also much better off now with the new distributor). The current release of Grand Cuvee will clearly handle five to ten years of additional bottle age. As the notes below will attest, the consistency of excellence that is the Krug legacy is as compelling as any of the world's greatest wine domaines. Certainly Krug's prices are lofty, and it is not every serious wine collector that can comfortably spring for a cache of Krug in the cellar. However, given the extraordinary quality of each and every Krug, I always try to stretch the budget and tuck a few bottles away for rainy days.
The Champagne List:
Krug Non-Vintage (Magnum)
Krug Rose
1985 Krug (Magnum)
1985 Krug Clos du Mesnil
1982 Krug
1982 Krug Clos du Mesnil
1981 Krug
1981 Krug Clos du Mesnil
1976 Krug Collection
1973 Krug Collection (Magnum)
1966 Krug Collection
1964 Krug Collection (Magnum)
Krug Non-Vintage (Magnum)
This is the most recent release in the New York market, and it is excellent. It makes the Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame (paired up with it at a Tete de Cuvee tasting) look a bit light and ephemeral in comparison. The nose is classic Krug: apple, rye toast, lemon, minerals, and yeasty tones. Huge and packed on the palate, with a huge core of fruit, fine balance, and a long, powerful, excellently balanced finish. While this is extremely impressive, it is also (in magnum) very, very young. I would forget this one in the cellar for three or four years to really let it open up. Drink the half bottles and 750 mls. and let the magnums sleep. Excellent stuff. 93.
Krug Rose
Krug makes a very unique style of rose. In a star-studded lineup such a s Krug, it is often easy to overlook their rose. Part of the problem with Krug's rose is that its high pricetag (even by Krug standards, this is a bit loftily priced) has kept the wine sitting around too long in poor storage conditions somewhere in the pipeline. I can unequivocally state that the fresh sample I tasted of this wine was a good ten points higher than the bottle I had last Christmas Eve. I know that last year's bottle was stored perfectly once it reached its retail destination, but Lord knows what storage indignities it was submitted to prior to its arrival at the store! This example of Krug Rose was stunning: scents of orange rind, earth, apricot, tangerine, and herbs soar from the glass. There is a delicacy and perfume here that is a welcome contrast to the more typically powerful and soil-driven styles of rose one usually encounters. On the palate the wine is very young and snappy, but with great underlying fruit, stunning focus, plenty of body, and a very long, penetrating finish. A Krug Rose revelation! 1998-2010. 93.
1985 Krug (Magnum)
The 1985 Krug in regular size bottles is quite shut down at the moment, with great promise apparent, but the opulence and nuance that it will have at maturity is still a good eight to ten years away. I expected the magnum to be even more austere, but it was surprisingly open and accessible. Could this magnificent young Krug be behaving like some of the most important 1982 Bordeaux (Cheval Blanc immediately comes to mind) in taking longer to shut down in larger format? In any event, the 1985 Krug showed profoundly well, with a stellar nose of honeyed apples, caraway seed, bread dough, lemon, minerals, and wheat toast. Fresh, laser-like in its focus, and very penetrating on the palate, with beautifully-integrated acids giving the wine shape and great cut. This is a very big, powerful Champagne that's overall balance leaves an impression of delicacy and grace! Ultimately, one of the legendary Krugs ready for takeoff. Come back for a visit sometime after 2002. 2000-2025. 97+.
1985 Krug Clos du Mesnil
The single finest young Champagne I have ever tasted is cruising along just fine, thank you. When I first tasted this wine a year ago, I felt it might be fairly short-lived by Krug's exemplary standards. If anything, today the wine seems even more tightly-knit and snappy with youthful acidity than it did last year. While I would still be happy to drink this wine at a moment's notice, I am going to give my bottle a good three to four years in the cellar before I pop it. The nose is wonderful, with scents of lemon, golden delicious apples, minerals. spring flowers, vanilla and hints of rye toast. Full-bodied, complex and racy on the palate, with tiny bubbles, great soil tones, and a long, complex, utterly profound finish. 1999-2010. 98.
1982 Krug
This wine was just shipped from the cellars, and I have to believe that it was just recently disgorged. I expected to find a big, rich sparkler a few years away from its peak. I was wrong. This was a tight, somewhat disjointed, broad-shouldered Champagne that is a quite a few years away from its apogee, and really in need of resting another six months. For those whose bottles come from earlier shipments, I would suspect the wine is within a year or two of its apogee, and capable of lasting another couple of decades. Stylistically it is similar to the 1964 (quite enjoyably quaffed out of magnum), with a very rich, powerful personality. The nose is very yeasty and toasty, with scents of hazelnuts, rye toast, minerals, ripe apples, and hints of honey. Big, full and potentially very opulent on the palate, with fine bubbles, plenty of acidity, and a long, complex finish. I am sure that the acidity in this example will become better integrated with time, and is certainly not a problem for wines shipped a few years back. It is a great Krug, but it is ever so slightly eclipsed by the 1985. 1999-2020. 94.
1982 Krug Clos du Mesnil
Clos du Mesnil seems to evolve at a much brisker pace than Krug Vintage, and this wine is drinking beautifully right now. Like the '82 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes, the time to have at this wine is now. One caveat: New York has recently seen a re-release of this wine from the Krug cellars. If, like the 1982 Krug (see above), the wine had been recently disgorged (I have not yet tasted from the most recent release), it should prove to be younger than the bottle of this I tasted. For the most recent release, I would opt for giving the wine another couple of years in the cellar. The nose is magnificent, with a perfume of ripe pears, golden delicious apples, hazelnuts, sourdough bread, spring flowers, and chalky minerals tones soaring from the glass. Deep, rich and opulent on the palate, with lovely maturing chardonnay flavors, fine bubbles, plenty of framing acidity, and a long, stunning finish. While the acids will certainly carry this wine another decade, the '82 Clos du Mesnil is fabulous right now. Drink with wild abandon: 1997-2010. 95.
1981 Krug
One of the big, old-time Krugs. I have a friend who insists that Krug has purposefully lightened up their style over the last half dozen years. As evidence, he points to the tightly-knit, extremely elegant 1985. I would argue (and do) that it is strictly the inherent elegance of the vintage that has produced this seemingly polite Krug vintage, and that the power of Krug is simply buttoned up behind a tight girdle of acidity at the present time. In any event, we do agree that the 1981 is a big boy! The nose offers up intense scents of super-ripe pears, caraway seed, heavy duty toast, nuts, minerals, blossoming notes of honey, and a floral topnote. On the palate this wine is drinking beautifully right now, with plenty of power, fine bubbles, a fine frame of zesty acidity, and a long, complex finish. The '81 Krug has miles to go before it sleeps, but it has entered the mystical drinking zone. 1997-2015. 94+.
1981 Krug Clos du Mesnil
Ah, the aromatic exotica of mature Clos du Mesnil! This wine is about as showy a bottle of Krug as I have run across the palate. The nose is fabulous, with scents of apricot, passion fruit, vanilla bean, toasted almond, chalky soil tones, fresh-baked biscuits, and a floral topnote. Full-bodied and in full flight on the palate, with a huge core of fruit, brilliant delineation and complexity, and a long, opulent, zesty finish. The '81 Clos du Mesnil does a magnificent balancing job of coupling bright, snappy acids to wonderful resolution of flavor. I suspect that the 1985 and 1982 will eventually surpass this beauty, but for drinking now, I have to give a slight nod to this wine over the 1982! 1997-2005. 96+.
1976 Krug Collection
Here is a profound vintage that is drinking at its peak. Honeyed and nutty on the nose, with great scents of pear, lemon, wheat toast and mineral underneath. Round, ripe and voluptuous on the palate, with layers of flavor, fine bubbles, bright, framing acidity, and a long, powerful finish. At this vertical Krug dinner, the 1976 was by far the most enjoyable for current drinking. From America's bicentennial year, it is showing better today than the this country's democracy! Let's just hope it does not outlast it as well. Drink 1997- 2010. 95+.
1973 Krug Collection (Magnum)
Last year I had the good fortune to have this wine three times out of 750 ml. and the wine was stunning. A point and utterly beguiling, with more elegance but less power and richness than the 1976. This magnum was a recent shipment from Krug (along with the 1982 noted above), and it was also showing signs of recent disgorgement. Slightly out of whack with acidity, this wine is displaying much more youth than any of the 750s I have had recently. Ultimately, it is less toasty and honeyed than the 1976, with scents of green apples, lemon, bread dough, minerals, floral tones, and yeasty notes. Medium-full, crisp and complex, with plenty of bubbles and acid left, the 1973 Krug in magnum has a solid two decades of life ahead of it. A superb bottle. 1997-2020. 94.
1966 Krug Collection
Not quite as broad-shouldered as the 1964, Krug's 1966 is an equally prodigious effort. The nose is sublime, with aromas of toasted nuts, apple, lemon, fresh-baked bread, limestone, spring flowers, and hints of honey. Higher-toned than the 1964, but with fabulous resolution and complexity to its flavor profile, a great core of fruit, bright acids, delicate bubbles, and a huge, snappy finish. The nose clearly states that this wine has seen significant bottle age, but the palate is so crisp, focused and zesty, that it seems like a wine at age ten, not age thirty! As the wine sat in the glass, the bubbles dissipated pretty briskly to the eye, but continued to explode on the palate through the entire bottle. A great Krug (aren't they all?) for drinking over the next ten years. 1997-2007. 95.
1964 Krug Collection (Magnum)
This is one of the big, opulent and creamy vintages of Krug. It has been drinking beautifully for years, but is still quite fresh and crisp. The fine bubbles continue to churn up from the depths, and the acidity, while not as bracing as young vintages of Krug, is certainly adequate to carry the wine another decade. The nose is magnificent, with scents of honeyed apples, barley, wheat toast, lemon, and loads of minerals. Bottle age has given this wine a distinction and complexity that I find extremely difficult to adequately describe. The honeyed character carries through on the palate, which is quite broad and creamy on the attack, and snappy on the finish. This is a wonderful, dramatic vintage of Krug that gets my vote as the most enthralling to drink through the close of this century. 1997-2007. 96.
