WTN: Krug, Glorious Krug

[David M. Bueker]

NV Krug Champagne Grande Cuvée Brut - France, Champagne (11/30/2013)
This was a bottle acquired several years ago (minimum of 4 - no code on the bottle to check), and the cellar time worked the usual magic. Toasty, nutty, floral and full of apple and citrus fruit - a wonderful, fascinating set of aromas and flavors. Stunning Champagne that does show the Krug style, and for that both my wife and I were very thankful. We both loved it. Happy early birthday to my wife, and thanks to mom and dad for gifting this bottle to us several years ago!

[Jenise]

There's nothing else like it, is there. How do they do it?

[David M. Bueker]

Eye of newt, spider legs, enter three witches...

[Jenise]

Grooaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn.

You know what I meant. Others would duplicate it if they could, so why can't they? What does Krug do that no one else can?

Btw, my fave new house champagne is Philipponnat Cuvee Royale. Picked up a bottle in L.A. a few weeks ago to take to a sushi dinner wherein everyone else would be drinking beer. It's as rich and old-school a champagne as I've had for $35 in my life, and I begrudgingly shared a few drops so all would know what was making me swoon there at the end of the table. I now have a case of my own, and we call it "Dr. Phil".

[David M. Bueker]

I wish I knew - I would make the stuff!

Others age the base wines in old oak barrels. Others have great vineyard sources. There are other great Champagnes, but there is only one Krug.

As for house XChampagnes, ours are Aubry, Pierre Peters and Billiot.

NV Krug Champagne Grande Cuvée Brut - France, Champagne (11/30/2013)
This was a bottle acquired several years ago (minimum of 4 - no code on the bottle to check)

Krug only in 2011 started printing a code on the back label that lets you determine the disgorgement date. But for several years before that, they printed such codes on the cork. Using that information, I was able to determine that the bottle of Krug Grande Cuvee that I opened for New Year's Eve was disgorged in September/October 2006. I have two other bottles of Krug GC in my cellar--they both have codes on the back labels. Apparently one was disgorged in 2011 and the one purchased most recently in 2012.

Here is a web page that explains how to read the codes: http://winetomas.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/how-to-identify-the-age-of-a-krug-grande-cuvee/ .

Given that most NV Champagne is released a bit "green" and can benefit from some bottle aging, I applaud Krug for providing a way for consumers to tell when the wine was released. I wish other Champagne houses would follow suit.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Given that most NV Champagne is released a big "green" and can benefit from some bottle aging, I applaud Krug for providing a way for consumers to tell when the wine was released. I wish other Champagne houses would follow suit.

-Paul W.

A growing number (groan...) of growers put disgorgement dates on the labels of their NV releases (vintage as well). It's not an insignificant group these days.

From their web page-
“A blend of 120 wines from ten or more different vintages, some of which may reach 15 years of age”

Salute

From their web page-
“A blend of 120 wines from ten or more different vintages, some of which may reach 15 years of age”

Yes, and after they arrive at what they think is the appropriate blend wines for the next Krug Grande Cuvee, they blend them in a vat and then bottle them with a bit of yeast and sugar to provide the bubbles. The (now sparkling) wine is then aged for several years. At some point, the yeast lees are disgorged, a small amount of sugar water is added, and the result is labeled and shipped out. This is the process followed for all non-vintage Champagnes.

Many people (I am one of them) think that Krug GC improves markedly if it's cellared for a few years after it's released. The problem has always been that when you go to buy a bottle of Krug, you have no idea how long it's been in the distribution chain. Is this a bottle that is newly released--disgorged only a few months ago, or has it been sitting in some wholesaler's or retailer's warehouse or shelf for several years? The back label of Krug GC now has a code that tells you the year and two month period during which it was disgorged. But before that you could only find out after the fact (the cork has a lot code carrying that information).

-Paul W.