Personal advice
With an annual production of only 700,000 bottles, Krug is the most exclusive and prestigious Champagne house. Johann Joseph Krug founded the house in 1843. Since then, Krug has stood for uncompromising quality, artisanal precision, and the art of the perfect assemblage.
Today, Olivier Krug, great-grandson of the founder, leads the historic Champagne house, which is part of the luxury conglomerate LVMH.
Johann Joseph Krug had a clear vision: to produce the best Champagne year after year. To compensate for the fluctuations of the cool Champagne climate, the cuvée should be an assemblage of as many vintages as possible.
To achieve this, he built up extensive reserves of reserve wines from different plots and vintages. His cuvées are not vintage products but artistic compositions of grape varieties, terroirs, and vintages.
Krug compared his work to a musical composition, where each wine is an instrument that together forms the greater whole. He recorded his thoughts in a small red notebook, which is still kept in the family archive today.
This approach is unusual. Bollinger already produced a vintage Champagne in its first year in 1939. Krug did so for the first time in 1914.
Krug still stands for classic Champagne craftsmanship today. Each plot is fermented individually in used 205-liter oak barrels from the Argonne or eastern France. The wines are never pumped but drawn off exclusively by gravity and rarely filtered.
As one of the last houses alongside Alfred Gratien, Krug deliberately avoids malolactic fermentation. This preserves the freshness and acidity of the wines and gives them an extraordinary aging potential.
Today, the reserve wines are stored in Laval stainless steel tanks. This makes Krug somewhat fresher, fruitier, and less oxidative than in the past.
The great art at Krug lies in the assemblage. From 1843 to 1914, Krug produced no vintage. In the 1920s, the cuvée was changed and introduced as Private Cuvée. From 1978 onward, it is called Grande Cuvée.
The assemblage presents particular challenges to the cellar master. It is not enough to create an optimal Grande Cuvée.
Enough perfect reserve wines must remain for the future. The remaining components must be used in such a way that any weaknesses are balanced out.
The whole must be greater than the sum of its parts. But no parts may be left over.
Since the 2013 vintage and Edition 169, cellar master Eric Lebel has passed responsibility to his assistant Julie Cavil to coordinate brand development within the group, which also includes Dom Pérignon.
It consists of around 120 base wines from up to 10 vintages. Its goal: to maintain a consistent house style that guarantees the highest quality every year. Wines from great vintages that theoretically have vintage potential are also used for this purpose.
Krug owns outstanding plots and old vines, and many growers consider it an honor to supply grapes to Krug—not least because the house pays the highest grape prices in Champagne.
Since 2016, the Grande Cuvée has featured an edition number, starting with the 163rd. It is the 163rd release of the Champagne since the founding of the house. Information about each edition can also be obtained by entering the Krug ID or scanning the QR code.
Earlier editions were also numbered retroactively. These are bottles released later from the reserve cellar. Starting with Edition 163, all bottles were numbered from the beginning.
To illustrate the diversity of the Grande Cuvée, here is an overview of well-known editions:
| Edition | Base Year | Composition and Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| 173rd Edition | 2017 | Blend of 69% 2017 and 31% reserves to 2001. Fruity, soft |
| 172nd Edition | 2016 | 58% 2016, reserves to 1998. Powerful, mineral. |
| 171st Edition | 2015 | 58% 2015, reserves to 2000. Honey, nougat, roasted notes, ripe fruit. |
| 170th Edition | 2014 | 55% 2014, reserves back to 1998. Elegant and complex. |
| 169th Edition | 2013 | 146 wines from 11 years from 2012 to 2000. Nutty with strong acidity. |
| 168th Edition | 2012 | 58% 2012, reserves to 1996. The ripe, opulent vintage interpreted classically nutty and structured. The best since 152. |
| 167th Edition | 2011 | Reserves to 1995. Relatively evolved, nutty. |
| 166th Edition | 2010 | Reserves to 1996, citrus, closed. |
| 165th Edition | 2009 | 69% 2009. Reserves to 1990. Ripe and generous, with nut, nougat, honey, and citrus. |
| 164th Edition | 2008 | Harmonious, elegant, marked acidity. |
| 163rd Edition | 2007 | Fruity, already good today with 37% reserve wines to 1990. |
| 162nd Edition | 2006 | Intense, ripe fruit with exotic notes. Reserves to 1990. |
| 161st Edition | 2005 | Ripe and unusually soft for Krug. |
| 160th Edition | 2004 | Reserves to 1990. Fruit and hazelnut, elegant and harmonious. The youngest GC that's already fully there. |
| 159th Edition | 2003 | Despite reserves from 1988, the power and ripeness of 2003 dominate. Chocolate, hazelnut. |
| 158th Edition | 2002 | Harmonious, creamy, multilayered, top with 42% reserve wines. |
Krug defines itself through the assemblage of a cuvée from many vintages. Thus, the house only produced its first vintage 70 years after its founding, in the 1914 vintage.
Only when, after selecting the base wines for the Grande Cuvée, enough barrels remain that reflect the character of a vintage at the highest level, does the house decide to produce a vintage.
The goal is not to reproduce a uniform drinking experience—as Dom Pérignon aims to do—but to express the character of the respective year as purely and precisely as possible.
For example, Krug Vintage 2008 reflects the classic structure and acidity of a traditional Krug, while the 2004 vintage appears more elegant and seductive.
In the outstanding 2012 vintage, Krug prefers to produce more of the wonderful 168th Grande Cuvée and makes no vintage. The rest is needed to supplement reserves for a series of cooler years that follow.
The vintage has even more power than Grande Cuvée. However, it takes a long time before it develops the nutty complexity of Grande Cuvée.
Rémi and Henri Krug purchased the Clos Tarin in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger from the Tarin family in 1971. This vineyard is 1.84 hectares in size, enclosed by a wall and protected by trees and houses.
The Tarins sold the grapes to Aimé Salon until he bought his own vineyards. After that, the family bottled the Clos Tarin themselves until the 1971 vintage.
Until 1978, the grapes went into the Grande Cuvée and the Vintage.
1979 is the first Clos du Mesnil, and what a one it is. 1979 is a perfect vintage especially for Chardonnay. Some Pinot Noirs were affected by late rain.
Together with 1982, 1985, and 1988, it forms a wonderful series.
The grapes almost always reach perfect ripeness in this vineyard, and the Krugs deploy a special team for it.
That is why the Clos du Mesnil is often the highlight of Krug's vintage Champagnes. It lacks the nuttiness of Pinot Noir. As a pure Chardonnay, however, it achieves perfection. It combines the exotic ripeness and fullness of Comtes de Champagne with even more intense minerality and finesse.
1914 The first Krug vintage Champagne. Nutty, delicate mousse, marked acidity
1919 Very dry, oxidative without being oxidized
1920 In the century year 1921 there is no Krug. 1920 is buttery, very nutty with marked acidity
1928 A legend. Still quite light color, nutty, rich, firm and younger than 1929.
1929 Opulent sweetness, rum pot, chocolate, walnuts and fir honey.
1932 Still with bubbles. Nutty and very dry.
1934 Still with brioche and pastry notes, walnut on the finish.
1938 Forgotten great vintage. A gigantic Champagne. Chocolate, mint, truffle, apricot.
1945 is legendary in Champagne. Krug is almost hard in its minerality.
1949 Elegant with fruity notes and subtle sweetness.
1953 Powerful, intense acidity, undergrowth.
1955 Firmly structured, intense acidity, becoming rounder.
1959 Opulent, concentrated with apple and vanilla aromas, no hurry.
1961 Light color, truffle, nutty roasted notes, hardly any fruit.
1962 Oily, super concentrated, declining.
1964 Acidity-driven, apple and vanilla.
1966 Exotic fruit and lots of charm
1969 Acidity-driven and firm.
1971 Honey, strawberries, toffee, harmonious but not very concentrated.
1976 Peach compote and coffee, very ripe and harmonious, but highly evolved, low acidity.
1979 Perfect harmony, fully developed, great.
1981 Harmonious, fruity, underrated.
1988 The greatest of the "younger" vintages. Perfect with a future.
1990 The ripe, soft character of the year is improved by Krug's structure.
1996 Wonderful aromas, but the acidity is still too dominant.
2000 In this ripe, warm year Krug is still young and promises greatness.
2002 Opulent, ripe, concentrated with great charm and lots of fruit.
2004 Pure elegance. Lemon fruit with fine nutty notes.
2006 Powerful, concentrated and already surprisingly drinkable.
2008 shows its class after many hours of aeration. But it is not the most charming, fruity Krug vintage.
2011 Rather soft and a success for the year.
2013 Pure lemon, very intense acidity. Needs a lot of time.
Joseph Krug, originally from Mainz, learned his craft at the renowned house of Jacquesson before founding his own brand in Reims in 1843. After his death in 1871, his son Paul Krug I continued the house.
In 1970, the Krug family sold the house to Rémy Martin but retained shares and management.
In 1999, Rémy Cointreau, as the group is now called, sold Krug to LVMH.
Under Olivier Krug, the house is experiencing a gentle modernization today: more fruit, more openness, but still uncompromising quality.
Champagne Krug combines history, craftsmanship, and innovation like few other houses. Every bottle is the result of decades of experience, artisanal precision, and a clear vision that has endured for over 180 years.