Krug Grande Cuvee Edition 171《Terroir Collection - ZTF1159》

Region / Classification : Champagne, France

Grape varieties : 45% Pinot Noir, 37% Chardonnay, 18% Pinot Meunier

Alcohol : 12.5%

Website : https://www.krug.com/

🌟 One of the most prestige champagne, so-called Rolls-Royce of Champagne

🌟 Model of High proportion reserve wine + barrel fermented Champagne

🌟 Based on vintage 2015, High rating edition of Grande Cuvee

🏅 James Suckling 99 pts: Terrific release

🏅 Vinous 95 pts

🏅 Wine Advoate 94 pts

The House was established in Reims in 1843, by Joseph Krug, a visionary non-conformist with an uncompromising philosophy. Having understood that the true essence of Champagne is pleasure itself, his dream was to craft the very best Champagne he could offer, every single year, regardless of annual variations in climate. Paying close attention to the vineyard’s character, respecting the individuality of each plot and its wine, as well as building an extensive library of reserve wines from many different years allowed Joseph Krug to fulfil his dream.

With a very original approach to Champagne making, he decided to go beyond the notion of vintage to create the most generous expression of Champagne, every year. Thus, he founded a House in which all Champagnes are of the same level of distinction.

Six generations of the Krug family have perpetuated this dream, enriching the founder’s vision and savoir faire.

Since 2011, the House has invited Champagne lovers to enter the Krug iD – six digits printed on the back label of every bottle – in a dedicated section of the Krug website or using the Krug App and, since 2016, via Messenger, to take their experience of Krug Champagnes one step further. The Krug iD reveals the Cellar Master’s impressions of the year, a detailed story of the bottle, food pairing suggestions, recommendations for ideal storage and service, as well as Krug Music Pairing suggestions to enhance every Krug Champagne tasting.  

Krug Grande Cuvée is born from the dream of one man, Joseph Krug, to craft the very best Champagne he could offer, every single year, regardless of annual variations in climate. Since 1843, the House of Krug has honoured this vision with each new Édition of Krug Grande Cuvée: the most generous expression of Champagne.

Beyond the notion of vintage, Krug Grande Cuvée is always a blend of over 120 plots’ wines individually kept from more than 10 different years. The art of blending wines from so many different years gives Krug Grande Cuvée its unique fullness of flavours and aromas, impossible to express with the wines of just a single year. A stay of around seven years in Krug’s cellars gives Krug Grande Cuvée its distinct expression and elegance.

All Éditions of Krug Grande Cuvée share a myriad of flavours and aromas in which everyone can find something that stirs the emotions. As the years pass, particular aspects of their characters become more accentuated. As they grow, so do their distinctive features. The bonds that connect them are no less strong, their uniqueness is simply affirmed.

PRESERVING THE CHARACTER OF EACH INDIVIDUAL PLOT

A cornerstone of Krug’s craftsmanship is individuality, or the art of turning the harvest from every plot (vineyard) into a separate wine and then following its individual character before any blending decision is made. This allows the House to identify and reject any wines from single plots (elements) that could later weaken the blends, as well as enabling it to discern great ones that can enrich that year’s creations or be kept as reserve wines for later use. 

The House uses small oak barrels for the first fermentation. Their small size guarantees the flexibility needed to ensure the “one plot one wine” approach. Contrary to popular belief, Krug’s still wines do not age in oak barrels, they are simply born there.  At Krug, we accompany nature and, once the wines are ready, after three months, they leave the oak barrels to be kept in steel tanks, until blending decisions are made. They never see oak again. 

Only old barrels are used (the average age of the oak barrels used by Krug is 25 years and the oldest dates back to 1964). Very low quantities of new barrels are needed to gradually renew the oak barrel stock every year. They are custom-made from mature timber cut from trees that are over two centuries old. New barrels are never used immediately: for the first two or three years, they receive only the second pressing of grape juice. These are only used by the House to remove all the tannins as well as all woody flavours and aromas from the barrels. Only when the wood has become neutral are the barrels ready to receive grape juice from the first pressing and give birth to wines.

The oak barrels ensure a controlled first fermentation where oxygen “immunizes” the wines and increases their intensity and character. The tiny pores in the wood favour micro-oxygenation, a process which protects the wine from oxygen in later life. As a consequence, the Champagne created by blending these very carefully selected wines is less vulnerable to oxidation and has a significantly higher ageing potential.

In the 1960s, Paul Krug II, understanding the importance of reserve wines for the House of Krug, opted for small stainless steel containers to best preserve their freshness of flavours and aromas. For the House of Krug, it is not a question of tradition vs. modernity: it is about selecting the methods that best serve its vision.

THE ART OF BLENDING

Krug has always been meticulous to the point of being obsessive about the orchestration of the blending process. Tasting is a crucial step in the creation of Krug Champagnes. It begins with the sampling of the berries in the vineyard a few weeks before the harvest and continues during an elaborate three-step tasting period that lasts through winter and spring. As Eric says: “At Krug, all decisions are made on taste. The differences in expression we look for compose a mosaic of wines on which I can draw, from our very first tasting, right after the harvest, all the way until the end of March, when I decide on the different blends.”

Tastings always take place at the House of Krug in a dedicated room where Eric Lebel and the Tasting Committee gather. Already at the beginning of the harvest, Eric Lebel has been thinking about the gifts nature has given that year. The first tasting of the year’s wines takes place in November, after their alcoholic fermentation is completed. In January the tasting of the reserve wines begins. For Krug also draws on a unique library of reserve wines, part of Joseph Krug’s philosophy for Krug Grande Cuvée, the realisation of his dream to create the very best Champagne he could every year, above and beyond the characteristics and challenges of one particular year. “What we are looking for in our reserve wines is the ability to enrich the palette of wines of a single year in order to achieve a harmonious taste profile and this richness of expression,” says Lebel. “Through the blending exercises that follow, the winemaking team and I add substance and the perfect balance which characterizes Krug Grande Cuvée. The creation of the fullest expression of Champagne may call for wines from more than ten different years.” In February and March, the second tastings of the still wines of the year reveal other facets of their personalities, emboldened by time.

From November to March, over the course of five months of intensive tasting, he records around 4000 tasting notes written by the Tasting Committee about some 250 wines of the year as well as around 150 from Krug’s library of reserve wines. It is only after this meticulous preparation period that Eric Lebel, guided by his intuition and talent, begins the process of blending Krug Grande Cuvée during the second fortnight of March. “For me this is a period of immense concentration,” says Eric Lebel. “I lock myself in alone with my consciousness, my eyes, my memory and all my knowledge. Then I compose.”

A PATIENT PATH TO BEAUTY

For Krug, time is not a constraint, it is a strength, one of Krug’s fundamental guiding forces. It is present at every stage of Champagne creation at the House, from vinification right through to the extraordinary ability of Krug’s Champagnes to gain with the passage of time. A long stay in the cellars gives Krug Champagnes the time to achieve their unique expression and elegance. Patience, that most unyielding of tests, is priceless here. Time reveals the Champagne’s fine bubbles, sculpts its volume, unfurls its length, and affirms its longevity. Without this radical, uncompromising stance, it would be impossible to achieve the beauty of Krug Champagnes. 

For Krug, time is not a constraint. It is present at every stage of Champagne creation at the House, from vinification right through to the extraordinary ageing of Krug’s Champagnes. Time is one of Krug’s fundamental guiding forces. 

🏅 James Suckling 99 points：

The tightness and tension of this is impressive considering the youngest wine from this is 2015 (hot and dry year), with some wines going back to 2000. Ginger and orange zest. Some creme brulee. It's medium-bodied with apple, pie crust and floral character. It's salty and zesty yet, at the same time, complex and gorgeous. Chamomile and other floral teas highlight everything. Turns rich and flavorful at the finish. Terrific release. Really takes off at the end. Drink or hold.

🏅 Wine Advoate 94 points：

The NV Grande Cuvée 171ème Edition is a delightful blend of 45% Pinot Noir, 37% Chardonnay and 18% Pinot Meunier and boasts an attractive and captivating aroma of dried fruits, pastry, lemon oil, marzipan, spring flowers and ginger, with hints of almond and vanilla notes that become more pronounced over time. This medium to full-bodied wine is precise and well-structured, with a fleshy core of fruit and a sapid, incisive finish. Crafted around the 2015 vintage, the blend comprises 131 reserve wines from as far back as 2000 (42% of the total blend) and is expected to age beautifully over the next decade.

$1,550/bottle