"Why is Krug so special? It is not only because of our craftsmanship or because we have mastered the art of blending - ask any Champagne house and they'll tell you the same. What makes Krug unique is that it is the persistent recreation of one man's dream - it was the dream of Joseph Krug to create the most generous expression of Champagne consistently, every year!" 

says Olivier Krug, the maison's director and sixth-generation family member of the founding Krug family.

Now anyone who's met Olivier would quickly attest to the man's complete confidence and candor, his presence fills any room he's put in, and his charisma can almost be seen to be flipped on like a switch the moment he hits the stage. There is no room for pretences or even a split second of space for intimidation, the moment Olivier comes on, the room is instantly captivated with almost some sense of compulsion that perhaps you ought to pay attention to this man, and if anything, that all comes before it kicks in a full two minutes later that Olivier is a 35 year industry veteran who also represents one of Champagne's most illustrious and revered houses.

Now for the majority of us who reside beyond the hallowed chalky soils of Champagne, it might be tempting to think it straightforward that a Champagne house need only nail down a sort of formula or simply put in the work, arduous as it may be, and that each and every year without fail, the best possible Champagnes will be the output. Well, the people who've dedicated their life to toiling the region's vines, mastering its crayeres, and studying its wines, will deftly tell you otherwise. Mother Nature reigns supreme! That is the most investment, the best parcels, even the highest skilled team, cannot even begin to control nature.

And that is where the story of Krug begins.

Sixth-generation Olivier Krug holds a portrait of Maison Krug's founder Joseph Krug.

The Krug Story Of One Man's Dream Of The Most Generous Expression Of Champagne

Joseph Krug, born Johann-Joseph Krug, had been the son of a butcher, born in Mainz on the Rhine, today Germany. He would venture to the region of Champagne, and would find his spot as not a winemaker, or even a vigneron, but a book keeper. Nevertheless, that was enough for Krug to be so close to the action as to learn the intricacies of not just Champagne blending, but how the fabled region operated. Having weathered several vintages, Krug would in one fateful conversation ask his employer why it was that the bigger houses had made large scale blends that would mask its seasonality, and by extension, why was it that a non-vintage Champagne cuvee could not match that of a vintage Champagne, in terms of quality, impact, personality and charisma. To which, his employer would explain that it was simply impossible, and that it was not the way of Champagne - then. This would set Krug off on the pursuit of a dream - a dream to deliver the absolute best quality each year, no matter the season, whilst showcasing individuality, to which he called the most generous expression of Champagne. And thus in 1843, Maison Krug was born!

Of course, each subsequent generation of Krug would take the story to its next chapter, extending the renown of the house ever so much further, from eventually owning their own vines, to the bottling of single vineyard labels, as well finally the long awaited creation and debut of a Rosé. And so with over 180 years of unfolding, we today find a House of Krug that is enveloped in a very precisely calibrated craftsmanship - so much, for Olivier's claims that any Champagne house could equally say the same of its methods! - one that is as unique as it is a vision of mastery that stands alone. In truth, no one else makes Champagnes the way Krug does, and at the very least for that simple reason, no one's Champagnes are as Krug's is.

The Components Of Generosity, Or What Makes Krug Krug

Digging into methods and philosophy of Krug's winemaking, we unsurprisingly have to start in the vineyards. Whilst Joseph Krug might not have envisaged owning his own vines, at the time instead working to purchase the best fruit from across the region, the Krug family's fifth-generation brothers, Henri and Remi, would find themselves acquiring parcels of vines in the 1970's and 1990's, including two now legendary enclosed vineyards, Clos du Mesnil and Clos d'Ambonnay, which are used to produce a highly sought after Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs respectively. Yet, the reality is that even with some 20 hectares of vineyards, this amount only covers for 20-30% of the fruit that Krug needs each vintage. And so, as it was since the time of Joseph Krug, the goal has been to find the best fruit each harvest, balancing flexibility and agility in response to the season's fickle temperament, whilst at the same time building strong relationships with quality growers. With access to more than 250 different plots, Krug boasts amongst the most extensive of palettes. In short, Krug needs not be beholden to any particular vineyard or grower, and is able to get the first dibs on the season's harvest, ultimately only purchasing what fits the house's requirements - that is, keeping the best and discarding the rest. Yet as simple as that sounds, in practice this is underpinned by a complete and intimate understanding of the region's extensive vineyards, or what Olivier calls a plot-by-plot approach! 

The Krug Tasting Committee.

Diving into this approach, Krug has its selective Tasting Committee - a small panel of just seven members, led by Krug's Cellar Master Julie Cavil, and includes Olivier - treat each plot as a single wine that will be used to best understand the particular parcel, many times no larger than a garden. “At Krug, our philosophy is to harvest and isolate each plot, from which we obtain one wine that expresses its distinctive character and nuances. There is no hierarchy in our selection; no plot is favoured over another. We cultivate the differences and really search for unique characters, respecting this individuality until the blending decisions are made.” says Cellar Master Julie Cavil. And so through the growing season, Krug's team continually assesses the development of the fruit in each plot, through tastings of course, so as to determine the optimal harvest date. Upon harvest, each plot is vinified individually and singularly, with the Krug Tasting Committee blind tasting each wine twice (months apart to allow the young, very acidic wines to develop its character), producing some 5,000 tasting notes in the course of six months. In any particular year, anywhere from 200 to 300 wines are vinified, with another 150 reserve wines that adds to the spread of what's to be tasted, studied and evaluate. On top of that, Krug has about 4,300 different barrels of wines, each a staggering average of 15 years old, from which it can drawn from. This allows the team at Krug to not only understand each plot - it's strengths and weaknesses - at a depth that few other houses, if any, can hold a candle to, but to then also provide Krug with once again the widest palette to play with in composing its cuvees.

And so each vintage, with no fixed recipe or formula, armed with only the library of tasting notes collected, possibly the widest spectrum of wine components, and the singular quest to once again recreate Joseph Krug's dream some 180 over years later, Krug will thus endeavour to exercise its art of blending to produce a cuvee that showcases the individuality of its vintage, whilst offering the most generous expression of Champagne. There is no reliance on the season's climate and is regardless of the growing season - there can only be consistency.

Olivier Krug; (Top to Bottom) Krug House at 5 rue Coquebert in Reims, Krug Lodge in Trepail and the new Joseph Winery.

"Our Champagne is about the most generous expression of Champagne. The creation of our Champagnes is about personalities, not origin. So we don’t care about the passport. My Champagne is not about Pinot Noir or Chardonnay or Meunier. It’s about the most generous expression of Champagne."

At this point, it's worth setting the record straight on how Multi-Vintage (MV) Champagnes - that Krug produces - differ from the more ubiquitous Non-Vintage (NV) Champagne, with after all both cuvees containing multiple vintages, and yet differing vastly in terms of prestige. Whilst NV's have become the staple of Champagne, and serves as the calling card for Grand Marques, accounting for well over 80% of all Champagnes produced today, the aim of the NV is to achieve a uniform touchpoint, maintaining a consistent experience no matter the year every single time an NV is popped. Conversely, a Multi-Vintage whilst also borne out of a desire to produce a great Champagne every year, and not just on excellent vintages, balances that goal with the aim of delivering and exemplify the uniqueness of a particular vintage, which is executed via an overt emphasis on a base vintage, as well as the use of reserve wines. Hence Multi-Vintages tend to feature a large percentage of wines from a particular vintage (called the base wine), that is then supported by the use of more well-aged reserve wines from various other vintages aside from the base vintage. This results in Multi-Vintages being more distinctive edition to edition, and typically more well-aged by the time they are released, as compared to NV's which tend to feature younger wines, and typically do not have a distinct base wine that forms a significant portion of the cuvee. In short, NV's endeavour to always be identical, whilst Multi-Vintages aim to be distinct in expression yet consistent in quality. Where the use of numerous vintages serves as a description for the NV, by contrast, it is the very intention and instrument of the Multi-Vintage.

The Krug House in Reims.

But that's not all that makes Krug's wines unique. After harvest - where Krug specifically selects for fruit that is picked at higher acidity and less sugar - the wines are fermented most uniquely in small 205-liter oak barrels in a technique known as vinification sous bois, using oak from the Argonne forests, with oak barrels often re-used (and tanned for the first 2-3 years with second and third grape juices to wash off woody notes so as to make the wood inert), ranging from 4 to 40 years old (average age being 20 years old). This is done to allow for micro-oxygenation to occur through the wood during fermentation, which creates more complexity with some oxidative aromatics and flavours developing in the Champagne. The wines are kept in barrels for several months with no intentional malolactic conversion (although if it does occur, it is not stopped, with most of the wines not undergoing malolactic fermentation) and regularly topped up with wines from the same plot to reduce oxidation, before it is moved to steel tanks to preserve its acidity, with the wines typically fermented to dryness with never more than 6.5g/L of residual sugar. It is interesting to note that as Krug's wines are not wood-aged and the wooden casks are only filled during the several months of fermentation, Krug has to regularly water the wood to humidify it as it remains empty for three quarters of a year. It is from here that the highly selective Krug Tasting Committee does its first rounds of evaluation before the wines are then allowed to further age for at least 7 years, with any wines not meeting the mark sold off as bulk. 

Consequently, a single Grande Cuvee from Krug will feature 120-150 different wines, typically from 11 different vintages, which in culmination will require over 20 years to create (the oldest vintage component in the Grande Cuvee will have been aged for at least 20 years, and up to 30 years, upon release). "When you present a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvee, someone might say that for a bottle of Champagne this is rather expensive, but when they understand how well-aged it is, they will instead say that Krug is incredibly worth it!" touts Olivier. And perhaps even more incredible is that the Grande Cuvee is only the tip of the iceberg for Krug, wait till one sees the rest of what Maison Krug has to offer, as you step inside what is often and widely acknowledged as the greatest Champagne of all.

With that said, let's go through a tasting of three of Krug's flagship Champagnes - the Krug Grande Cuvee, the Krug Rose and a particular Krug Vintage.

Champagne Review: Krug Grande Cuvee Brut

The Krug Grande Cuvee is of course not just the flagship of the house, but is really its core and essence, whilst at the same time being the dual torchbearer as both the house's starting point, and also bedrock! Few houses have their Grand Vin serve as its gateway, but then again, as far as Krug is underpinned by an ideal and a philosophy, there can then be no better starting point to understanding Krug than right at the beginning. The Krug Grande Cuvee "Edition" numbering was first introduced in the 163rd Edition (the 2007 vintage), where before that it was known simply as Krug Champagne No. 1, and going even further back to before 1978, it was known as the Krug Private Cuvee. Produced annually, the Krug Grande Cuvee is a blend of over 120 wines, ranging over 10 different years. 

The 173eme Edition is composed around the 2017 harvest, and is a blend of 150 wines from 13 different years, the youngest being the 2017 vintage and the oldest from the 2001 vintage. Reserve wines make up 31% of the cuvee, with the final composition 44% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay and 22% Meunier.

This is the Krug Grande Cuvee 173eme Edition.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Straw

Aroma: It opens concentrated and compact, the chiselled and precise structure is immediately apparent, filled in with deep notes of honeycomb candy with some flour-y doughiness, giving this mustiness of age. There's a layer of nuttiness as well, garnished with florals white and exotic of elderflower and lavender. More on beeswax and lacquered agarwood as it opens up, with airier whiffs of toastiness and breadiness that now comes through. It's not bellowing or intense nor juicy, rather it's poised and elegant, super aromatic, yet at the same time firm and assured. Supple and concentrated, with great depth and polish, toned and rich, rather waxy and perfumed.

Taste: Medium-bodied, just as it were on the aromatics, it's concentrated and compact, even more brisk and chiselled here, yet within that condensed body, that's rich and supple, the layers are well-defined with candied honey, a light touch of old oak, with also honey glazed and toasted almonds and pecans, backed up by a savouriness of bruised apple. It's velvety and plush, with a strong effervescence, yet conveying this resinous quality. It continues to give a mustiness of age that comes accompanied by a honeyed umaminess of nutty nougat, dried quince and golden apples. Structured and whilst compact and brisk at first sip, has a way of unfurling itself seamlessly and in an unhurried manner that gives time to savour its richness combined with the high acidity that's well integrated into that deeper and concentrated body, neither streaky nor angular.

Finish: That waxiness and mustiness persists, with beeswax and honeycomb, along with honey drizzled shokupan, carrying with it that undercurrent of bruised apple savouriness. It's rich through the finish, precise and seamless, gently crisp and clean, with hazelnuts, marzipan and toasted shokupan that lingers.

My Thoughts

Krug's Grande Cuvee has always exuded elegance and composure, in a way that is quite unlike any other. Quite often, "unexpected" is the immediate description that is said when a person first tastes the Krug Grande Cuvee, and that's because it doesn't shout, rather it allures, and so on first encounter, it requires time and attention to be paid to watching it blossom and develop in the glass, with the full experience promisingly immersive and engaging if you give it the time.

Here, it's at once delicate yet assured, opening up first with these candied honeyed aromas, along with a medley of candied nuts, honey drizzled over dough, and a perfumed quality of lacquered exotic wood and bounties of fresh florals. Already on the nose, you begin to get a sense of the age, depth and toned body that awaits. On the palate, the same notes come through, yet this time in a body of contrasts, at once rich and concentrated, brisk yet richly textured and layered, whilst also compact and toned, more savouriness and umaminess also emerges, whilst the acidity is bright yet polished. Carried through the finish, it persists in its candied and savoury umami quality, it beautifully and seamlessly lengths from the palate through the finish, first starting with that crispness before its candied and rounded depth is laid out, and finally finishing off very gently crisp and precise once again. These really rustic and pure baked goods and confectionaries of hazelnuts, marzipan and toasted shokupan lingers. 

On the whole, the Krug Grande Cuvee feels marked more so by the aging of the wines, with a side of oxidative character, as opposed to something for reductive, and with not quite so much influence from the lees ageing.

Champagne Review: Krug Rose Brut

With the 1976 vintage being the first iteration by fifth-generation Henri and Remi Krug, on the back of a Rose having been highly requested and many a times refuted by the Krug brothers who decided that they would only produce a Rose if they were able to embody what Krug stood for - and so after 7 years of experimenting, the Krug brothers were finally ready, and would release the first Krug Rose in 1983 (it has since been produced almost annually). The Krug Rose is made through blending, where a skin-fermented Pinot Noir red wine (typically ~11% of the overall cuvee; from the Grand Cru of Aÿ) is added to the Champagne cuvee only at last stage of the process, taking advantage of a practice only permissible in Champagne. As with the flagship Krug Grande Cuvee, the Krug Rosé is produced annually and numbered by sequential editions, each composed as a multi-vintage (using all three grape varietals) with a specific base vintage that makes up about 50% of the cuvee, that is then aged for at least 5 years in Krug's cellars before release.

The Krug Rose 29eme Edition is built around the 2017 harvest, and is a blend of 29 wines from 5 different years, with the youngest from 2017 and the oldest from 2010. It is composed of 53% PInot Noir (including 11% traditionally macerated Pinot Noir wines), 28% Chardonnay and 19% Meunier.

This is the Krug Rose 29eme Edition.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Salmon

Aroma: White florals topped over dried cranberries and hawthorn, there's a sense of immense depth, yet at the same time lifted and and textured. This continues on to more lightly tart red berries of wild strawberries, dried strawberries, raspberries, crushed and spread over dried dough that's dusted with powdery flour. It's creamy with an air of aged mustiness, combining gently tart red fruits with a scoop of vanilla cream and garnished with a touch of grassiness.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, immediately plush and creamy, really cohesive and firm, with lightly tart wild strawberry and blackberry preserves, alittle grassy here, with also vanilla cream. There's a firm savouriness at the back of bruised strawberries, that is coaxed into the richness of the fruit core. It carries a compactness with its vigorous effervescence, well defined and chiselled with brighter acidity here that's alittle more striking, leading that body of berry preserves and vanilla cream.

Finish: That rich creaminess, still compact and bracing, carries seamlessly first strawberry preserves, that's followed by blackberries. It's plush yet firm, guided by that canvas of vanilla cream. Here there's a progression of the fruit core relaxing and developing to more on wild fruit and dried fruit, before eventually marking a return to that vanillic creaminess into the finish. It's more confectionary and laid back through the finish, showing more savouriness and tartness of the red fruit. Once again, that signature precise and crisp finish. Lingering tones of dried strawberries.

My Thoughts

The Krug Rose is lively and vivacious, really exciting with that sparky acidity that wraps around the otherwise concentrated and rich fruit core, giving it a sense of electric vibrance, bracing and linear, yet backed up with a supple layer of vanillic creaminess. It's again a Champagne that is of contrasts, really balanced between the striking freshness and acidity against the more laid back, rustic purity of fruit preserves and meadowy grassiness. It is rich yet never feels heavy, starting off vigorous and then lengthening out to give ample richness and suppleness. 

On the nose, it's giving red berry pastries, with this ephemeral air of flouriness and wild fruit. Where it gets to the palate, there's more of a brambly mix of fruit preserves over a layer of cream, balanced against a savouriness of bruised fruit. It's distinctively chiselled and structured, showing a refined precision and angularity, with the acidity bright and much more intense. The textural transition into the finish is perhaps most impressive and superb, it's rich and plush, really cohesive as it fans out, maintaining that great concentration and core of strawberry paste, backed up by a lightly tart savouriness of dried strawberry. 

This feels more ready to enjoy at youth as compared to the Grande Cuvee, where here we readily see such concentration and intensity of fruit, with a vibrant acidity. It's fresh, energetic and commands such presence!

Champagne Review: Krug Vintage Brut

Krug Vintage is not made every season, with 2008 Vintage being the last season made before the 2011 Vintage, and subsequently the next time it was made was the 2013 Vintage. Each Krug Vintage is aged for over 10 years in the cellar before being released. The Krug Vintage 2011 is composed of 46% Pinot Noir, 37% Chardonnay and 17% Meunier. "Capturing the delightful contrast of a paradoxical climate, Krug 2011 is the expression of an unpredictable year split in two, with seasons reversed. A surprising Krug story allying finesse and power, it was nicknamed “Spirited Roundness” by the Tasting Committee."

This is the Krug Vintage 2011.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: Toasty from the get go, there's toasted shokupan, shio pan crusts, toasted almonds too, layered upon by a drizzle of honey and bouquets of white florals, with also pulls of wet dough. There's an airy floury quality to it, with brie rinds. It's incredibly cohesive and richly honeyed, with the honey melding with the nuttiness and breadiness to give a sweet and rich confectionary quality of toasted almond croissants. It's thoroughly abundant and generous with this depth of aromatic intensity and definition, whilst remaining supple and textured.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, rounded and lush, yet showing good tension and vibrance. Honeyed savouriness of pear compote and bruised pears mixed into one, with also quince and golden apples. At its core, it's plush yet toasty and bready, with a dash of salinity, layered over vanilla cream. It still comes through with some compactness and is structured and rather chiselled, though alittle richer and more supple here compared to before. The acidity is bright and gently tart, though quickly rounds out even as it persists.

Finish: More honeyed and waxy here, with also toasted almonds, honeyed shokupan, pulls of floury dough, and nuggets of savoury bruised pear compote. It's supple and rich, also firm, through the finish. There's a lingering salinity and savouriness that melds with the rich honey, developing along seamlessly from palate to finish, almost unwinding and blossoming to let go of the fruit and give way for more luscious thick honey and doughiness.

My Thoughts

Absolutely impressive! The Krug Vintage 2011 shows such incredible composition, delivering layers upon layers of generous richness of luscious honey, sweet shokupan, toasted almonds, doughiness, savoury orchard fruit compote and bouquets of white florals! The only word I can describe it as is perfectly curated and breath-taking - the entire experience feels intentional and deliberate, almost like an architecture that's masterfully pieced together, all of which comes together harmoniously and considered.

The aromatics here are ephemeral and immersive, with such intensity and definition, you almost feel like you're right in a stream flowing with rich honey, islands of sweet shokupan, flanked by orchards of white florals! The palate develops beautifully - once again, a tale of contrasts - at once lush yet structured, here more generous than ever, with more richness and plushness, still compact although less so than the Krug Grande Cuvee and Rose. It's beguiling and comforting, this gourmet purity and elegance! It feels like you're right at a white tablecloth-ed French fine dining restaurant where the chef is serving unadulterated yet perfectly executed fare focused purely on the produce. This then gets on to a lengthy finish, honeyed and waxy, with everything now coming together, the height of tension, before then unwinding to release lusciously thick honey and floury doughiness. It's seamless through the finish, with the faintest of crispness that we've found thus far across the Krug's.

What an experience! The depth and immersiveness here, with how it delivers you so vividly to the most desirable of sensations is just absolutely stunning! 

Kanpai!

@111hotpot