Joseph Krug founded the house in 1843 after learning winemaking at Champagne Jacquesson, driven to craft the finest champagne every year, regardless of climate. By honouring each vineyard's individuality and creating a vast reserve library, he achieved his dream & Krug Grande Cuvée 1st Edition was born.
In the 1970s, Henri and Rémi Krug modernized production, acquired Clos du Mesnil, 1st vintage 1979, launched Krug Rosé in 1983 and purchased Clos d'Ambonnay in 1991, first vintage 1995. LVMH acquired Krug in 1999; Henri and Rémi stepped down in 2007. Since 2009, Olivier Krug, the sixth generation, is Director of Krug.
In 2024, Krug completed
Joseph, its new state-of-the-art sustainable winery in the village of Ambonnay, awarded exceptional HQE certification.
Krug Trilogy Case 2004. This case includes one 75cl bottle each of Krug Grande Cuvée Edition 160 NV (based on 2004), Krug 2004 and Krug Clos du Mesnil 2004.
Weather: A crisp winter combined with a cold but bright spring ensured that Champagne endured a cold start to the year. The early summer months brought sunshine and warmth. The grapes were healthy and ripe during the harvest season in September. Cool nights and hot days created a balanced maturity that is evident in the resulting champagne, the highest maturity for a few years. The vintage has been named "Luminous Freshness" to express the music of an extremely bright and very fresh vintage.
Krug Grande Cuvée Edition 160 NV | Krug ID:
212018
A bundle of brioche pleasure and creaminess. Very exciting on the palate. Quite dry and great length. This is definitely one of the more expressive Grande Cuvée Editions, with the smoky characteristics of the 2004 vintage dominant throughout.
Krug 2004 | Krug ID:
216022
Slightly light on the nose right after pouring; with few minutes in the glass it comes more forward with grapefruit, concentrated lemon and apricot. On the palate lots of depth and weight of fruit, great mouth-feel with fresh acidity and fruit-forward flavour. The mid palate is an abundance of apricots and nuttiness, beginning to show hints of brioche that will get bolder with age. Great length, real subtlety and a hint of salinity on the finish.
Krug Clos du Mesnil 2004 | Krug ID:
416040
At first sight, a vibrant luminosity and intense golden colour redolent of ripe wheat. On the nose, expressive aromas of toffee apple, caramel, ripe citrus fruits and lightly toasted nuts. On the palate, it opens with astonishing generosity and breadth. Initial hints of brown sugar, candied ginger and pecan give way to notes of citrus fruits as it bursts into an explosion of freshness enhanced by a very long and elegant finish.
Each bottle of Krug has a Krug ID on the back label which enables you to discover the story of that very bottle. You can do so using the smartphone App or on the Krug website.
Just five years after Joseph Krug founded his eponymous Champagne House in 1843, he documented his great vision for Krug in a cherry-red leather notebook. In it, he revealed the principles of creating a champagne of incredible richness yet great elegance, of selecting only the finest elements from the greatest terroirs, rejecting mediocre fruit and making both a non-vintage and a vintage cuvée - revolutionary at the time. Discovered in 2010 by current House Director and sixth generation of the founding family Olivier Krug, the ideals in this notebook and Krug's resolute commitment to them have secured their position as the most luxurious and exclusive of all Champagne producers.
Unlike other Champagne Houses, Krug's range consists of prestige cuvées only. Their iconic non-vintage Grande Cuvée is a masterful blend of some 120 wines, vintage Krugs are renowned as true classics, majestically displaying the characteristics of each harvest and their unique and exclusive single-vineyard champagnes, Clos du Mesnil and Clos d'Ambonnay are the ultimate rarities. The recent introduction of ID codes displayed on the back of every bottle - revealing base year, disgorgement periods and product information - has helped revise the vision of Krug in line with the great founder's philosophy.
Cellar Master:
Julie Cavil
Winery Location: Reims | Champagne, France
Champagne Region:
Montagne de Reims
Annual Production (bottles): 760,000
Chef de Cave History at Champagne Krug:
Julie Cavil - January 2020 to current
Julie Cavil is the current Cellar Master of Champagne Krug — and the first woman to hold that role. After starting her career in advertising, she retrained in oenology in Champagne and joined Krug in 2006, becoming Chef de Caves in 2020. Known for her humility, precision, and respect for Krug’s “one plot, one wine” philosophy, she oversees the blending of hundreds of base wines each year to recreate Krug’s signature style. Cavil balances tradition with innovation, focusing on sustainability and creative projects while preserving the founder’s vision of crafting the finest Champagne every year, regardless of vintage conditions.
Eric Lebel - 1999 - 2019
Eric Lebel joined Krug in 1999 as Chef de Cave. He was described as “Mozart of bubbly". Under his leadership the house expanded its reserve-wine library (for example, tripling from ~50-60 reserve wines in earlier years to 150+). He emphasised the preservation of individuality of plot, rigorous tasting, and refusing wines that did not meet house standards.
Dominique Petit - 1979 - 1999
Dominique Petit is a original Champenois. He was born in Verzy in 1954. Coming from a family of winegrowers, he studied at the Lycée Viticole d’Avize and the University of Reims, earning his oenology diploma at 23. Petit joined Champagne Krug in 1979, where he spent 20 years overseeing production under Henri and Rémy Krug. His tenure marked a bridge between Krug’s family-run era and its modernisation before LVMH ownership. In 1999, he became Chef de Cave at Pol Roger.