Krug Grande Cuvée Vertical Tasting: Editions 158-166 NV (2002-2010)

Last year, we blind tasted Krug Grande Cuvée Editions 159-163 NV (base vintages 2003-2007) with Jancis Robinson MW. Showcasing the very best of Krug and the subtle nuances of their famous non-vintage blend, we found the experience so interesting that we decided to offer it to consumers. And since a few more Grande Cuvées are now on the market, the opportunity to compare a greater range of Editions was too good to miss. As such, we assembled nine Krug Grande Cuvée Editions: 158-166 NV (base vintages 2002-2010) and two Krug vintages: Krug 2002 and Krug 2004, and headed down to the Lutyens Room at 67 Pall Mall for an evening of all things Krug.

Krug Grande Cuvée is not your average non-vintage. Priced at a similar level to the prestige cuvées of many other major champagne houses, it is a prestige cuvée in its own right. Like other non-vintages, Grande Cuvée consists of wine from several years: a base vintage (the youngest in the blend) and reserve wines from older vintages. What makes Grande Cuvée unique is that the proportion of reserve wines is unusually high (typically 30-50%) and the reserve wines are unusually old (the youngest Edition in this tasting, the 2010 base, features reserve wine from 1998).

“At Krug, we’re not about consistency but generosity. We don’t work to a rulebook or a formula and want to celebrate the differences from year to year” – Olivier Krug

Further, as Krug handle their multitude of reserves wines in individual batches before vinification (typically one grape variety, from one vineyard and one vintage), they have several hundred blending components to choose from for Grande Cuvée. Well over 100 different wines from more than 10 different vintages are typically chosen. For this reason, Krug prefer the term ‘multi-vintage’.

Given the typically high percentage of reserve wines from such old vintages, Krug manage to produce a very consistent style and quality with Grande Cuvée each year. However, with 50-70% of the blend coming from one base vintage, each Edition inevitably displays subtle differences that showcase the characteristics of that year.

In late 2016, Krug began numbering each Grande Cuvée blend to promote the individuality of each creation and allow the ageing capacity and potential complexity of Grande Cuvée to be understood. Now that Grande Cuvée displays its Edition on the label, the famous non-vintage can be fully appreciated as a series of difference releases – which can now be easily compared and explored.

“We are in the domain of creation, doing something unique, a masterpiece every year… every year there is one creation, one blend, one bottling, and this house has been doing this for 170 years” – Margareth Henriquez, Krug CEO

To our knowledge, this was the most comprehensive tasting of Krug Grande Cuvée Editions to date. It was our job to score the champagnes and identify the Editions and the vintages (if possible!). All eleven champagnes were served blind in a random order. They are presented below in chronological order with the vintage champagnes at the end.

Tasting Notes

As we tasted, it became quite clear that distinguishing between Krug Grande Cuvée Editions in a blind tasting was going to be a very difficult task. Although there was no doubting that each glass displayed an inherently different personality, any vintage characteristics (such as acidity levels and ‘type of fruit’) were somewhat masked by the high percentage of reserve wines.

Age, or lack of it, emerged as the most useful indicator. The younger Editions clearly had a youthful zest, real show-off champagnes that demanded attention; whilst the older Editions had all the creamy maturity you’d expect from a vintage cuvée, rather than a non-vintage blend.