Krug’s Grande Cuvee is one of the best of all Champagnes. Comparable to the likes of Roederer Cristal and Dom Perignon, its quality is immense and yet it also stands apart.
Unlike these great rivals, all of which are made of a single Champagne vintage, Krug Grande Cuvee is a multi-vintage blend. Although based around the wine from a single year, a huge proportion of the final blend is made up of aged reserve wines. These not only guarantee consistent excellence, but also add phenomenal complexity, depth and layers of personality. They also mean that Krug Grande Cuvee is delicious to drink on release, while still having incredible capacity to age.
Krug is a Champagne for true connoisseurs. It is both elegant and refined, while still muscular and imposing. This quality is a reflection of the care and attention that comes into crafting each bottle.
Champagne expert Richard Juhlin neatly sums up what makes Krug so revered. For him, “Krug is more than a Champagne. It is a word that stands for artistry, tradition, craftsmanship, and moments of pure pleasure”.
The wines are made from some of the best grapes in the regions and sourced from both Krug owned vineyards and a network of growers selected for they quality they produce. Each wine is fermented cru by cru in aged oak barrels to create body and texture. Reserve wines are then stored in stainless steel tanks.
The Grande Cuvee is made up of around 120 different wines across at least ten vintages. On release it is never less than sensational, an incredibly satisfying Champagne that has an effortless brilliance. Once tased, it’s easy to see why Krug is so highly-regarded among Champagne aficionados.
For many years Krug Grande Cuvee’s greatest asset was also something of a hindrance. While vintage Champagnes and their relative ages, levels of maturity and qualities were easy to compare, Grande Cuvee was much more difficult to identify. This was a problem for collectors (and merchants) who wanted to know what release they were drinking, had in the cellar, or indeed wanted to sell.
A few years ago Krug came up with an elegantly simple solution, labelling each release as a new ‘Edition.’ At a stroke, this made instantly possible to identity each bottle, it’s base vintage, release year and, therefore maturity. It was an act of genius that re-energised interest in each and every new released of Krug’s famous Grande Cuvee.
