Krug Champagne Tasting with Special Guest Olivier Krug

Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - 07:30 PM

This Event has been read: 2293 times.

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Burgundy makes you think of silly things, Bordeaux makes you talk of them and Champagne makes you do them. -- Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

 

We sent out our Krug Champagne offering to promote the 2004 vintage, which is almost gone only 13 bottles left at the cheapest price in the country.   I mentioned at the end of the e-mail that we had Oliver Krug coming into town on January 23rd and we are already almost sold out for this event without a menu or list of wines to be served!    

Well here is the menu and list of wines for this event which there are only 24 spaced available.  We have an incredible line-up of Krug Champagne in 750ml, Magnum and Jeroboam format for this “Once in a Lifetime” Champagne Krug event.  A total of eight Champagnes in all and I am addicted to A5 Wagyu Kobe after serving this on NYE so we will be featuring it again tonight for this seven course tasting menu.  The fee for this event is $450 + tax and remember if you don’t eat foie gras or raw fish Toni is happy to accommodate you just let us know when you make your reservation at 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

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Krug Champagne Tasting with Special Guest Olivier Krug
Wednesday, January 23rd
7:30pm

Champagne Krug Grand Cuvee Jeroboam Edition 160

Champagne Krug Grand Cuvee Magnum Edition 164

Champagne Krug Grand Cuvee Edition 166

Champagne Krug Vintage 2004

Champagne Krug Vintage 2003 Magnum

Champagne Krug Vintage 1990

Champagne Krug Vintage 1985

Champagne Krug Rose Edition 19 Magnum

Menu
Charcuterie and Cheese Selection
Shoestring French Fries with Lemon Ginger Gremolata
Baby Red Bliss potatoes filled with American Sturgeon Caviar, Egg, Bermuda Onion and Creme fraiche
Tuna Poke with Hawaiian Sea Salt, Lime, coconut and cilantro
Seared Hudson Valley Foie Fras with Sautéed wild Mushrooms on Brioche Toast
Candied Lemon Drop Sorbet with mint
A5 Wagyu Kobe sashimi with Ponzu dipping Sauce

 

The price for this tasting which includes dinner is $450 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com

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(6 bottle) Krug Grand Cuvee Edition 161 - 166
Price $2511.00   Sale $2209.68

This is a collection of the first few releases of the Grand Cuvee with the edition number on the label.  These some as a 6 bottle case in a gift box presentation

 

We are almost out of the 2004 vintage at this discounted price!!

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2004 Krug Vintage Brut Champagne
Price: $295.00    Sale Price: $235.00          Quantity in Stock: 13

(97 points) The new release of 2004 Krug is absolutely beautiful and is already quite elegant and open on both the nose and palate and is drinking with great finesse. I had expected this wine to be a bit more steely in structure out of the blocks, but the refinement of the blend this year has produced a wine that is already a joy to drink at age thirteen, though it will continue age gracefully for many, many decades to come. The cépages in 2004 is thirty-nine percent chardonnay, thirty-seven percent pinot noir and twenty-four percent pinot meunier, with the wine having been disgorged in the winter of 2016. The bouquet jumps from the glass in a refined mix of apple, a touch of walnut, warm bread, lavender, a superb base of soil tones and a topnote of smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and utterly seamless, with vibrant acids, great focus and grip, a lovely core, refined mousse and a very long, complex, racy and energetic finish. There is marvelous precision here on both the nose and palate, not to mention a sense of harmony and grace that is fairly rare in the 2004 vintage. Chapeau! 2017-2060. (11/2017)  John Gilman

2003 Krug Vintage Brut Champagne
Price: $337.50    Your Price: $297.00          Quantity in Stock: 4

Krug made less than 1/3 of the amount that they usually vintage in 2003, an amount that will only represent 5% of production. Grand Cuvee is 80-85%. The cepage is a surprising 46% Pinot Noir, 31% Meunier and 23% Chardonnay.

1998 Krug Vintage Brut Champagne 3 Liter
Price: $3135.00    Your Price: $2758.80      Not in Store: Available in 5 - 7 days

(94 points) The 1998 Brut Vintage is a gorgeous wine for near-term drinking, Warm, toasty notes lead to an expansive core of fruit that covers the palate. This isn’t the most complex Krug Vintage, but it also won’t take years or decades to offer its finest drinking. 2010-2020. My visit to Krug earlier this year was fascinating, as I had a chance to taste a number of 2009s and reserve wines. A tank sample of the 2009 Clos du Mesnil was one of the most exciting, viscerally thrilling wines of the trip, and remained etched on my mind for several weeks. I also had a chance to glance over newly found, hand-written original records that document the exact village breakdown of all the grapes Krug purchased in each vintage going back to 1928. This year I tasted a number of fabulous wines from bottle. Unfortunately I can’t include my impressions on Krug’s NV Champagnes because of the house’s insistence on not providing disgorgement dates for those wines. I was reminded of the importance of this information when I tasted a fabulous, utterly spellbinding bottle of the NV Rose. It was a truly beautiful Champagne, but owing to its recent disgorgement it needed at least a few years on the cork. Of course Krug gives a general indication of the disgorgement dates for their wines on the corks, but by that time, readers may have opened a bottle that needs more bottle age. Without this information it is impossible to give readers any reliable indication of when the house’s NV wines might start drinking well. With a retail price over $300 a bottle, opening a bottle of Krug’s Rose can be a very expensive learning experience. Krug fans will want to keep an eye out for my upcoming article on Clos du Mesnil, featuring complete notes back to the inaugural 1979. Wine Advocate #192 Dec 2010

1996 Krug Vintage Brut Champagne
Price: $695.00             Sale Price: $595.00     Quantity in Stock: 1

(98 Points) The 1996 Krug Vintage remains one of the greatest Champagnes ever made. It is also far less expensive than either the Clos du Mesnil or Clos d’Ambonnay but equally as delicious. This bottle is stratospheric, with layers of explosive fruit that flow effortlessly to the multi-dimensional, captivating finish. It is another eternal Champagne from Krug. In the Cellar # 0711 Jul 2011

1995 Krug Vintage Brut Champagne (Magnum)
Price: $1195.00    Your Price: $1051.60      Not in Store:      Available in 5 - 7 days

1985 Krug Vintage Brut Champagne
Price: $825.00    Sale Price: $695.00           Quantity in Stock: 1

(97 points)  Animated and fresh, this is exotic on the nose and palate, with a finely woven tapestry of ground ginger, chamomile, pineapple pâte de fruit, grilled nut and biscuit flavors. Refined in texture and persistent on the long, truffle-laced finish. (12/2014) Wine Spectator

 Single Vineyard Champagnes from Krug the rarest of all the Krug Champagnes

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2003 Krug Clos de Mesnil Blanc de Blanc Brut Champagne
Price: $1089.00    Your Price: $958.32        Quantity in Stock: 1

Krug Clos du Mesnil 2003 exalts the crisp purity of a single walled plot of vines (Clos in French): Krug’s Clos du Mesnil in the village of Mesnil-sur-Oger, and of a single grape variety: Chardonnay, all from a single year: 2003. The House of Krug chose to create Krug Clos du Mesnil 2003 because, from the very first tastings, the Chardonnay grapes of the 2003 harvest already revealed a delightful, expressive and balanced character without any excess aromatic intensity.

Krug Clos du Mesnil 2003 has tones of luminous yellow gold colour which shimmers with brightness.  You will be seduced by aromas of praline, hazelnuts, ginger and spices. In the palate you will find strong flavors of honey, quince and candied citrus fruit, with a long and slightly lemony finish.

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2000 Krug Clos d'Ambonnay Brut Champagne
Price: $2809.75    Your Price: $2472.58      Quantity in Stock: 1

Krug Vintage Champagne Clos D'Ambonnay 2000 is the rarest of all Krugs. Krug Clos d'Ambonnay is the exceptional product of a single walled vineyard in the village of Ambonnay, which for generations has been one of Krug's best-loved terroirs. In this supremely elegant champagne, Ambonnay's Pinot Noir grapes are elevated to their ultimate expression by Krug's legendary craftsmanship and long years of aging in the cellars.  The launch of Krug Clos d'Ambonnay is a landmark because it is a Champagne which three members of the Krug family - Henri Krug, Rémi Krug and Olivier Krug - all worked together on in unison.

Krug Grand Cuvee - as good as any of the Champagnes from Krug

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NV Krug Grand Cuvee Brut Champagne 3 Liter
Price: $1620.00    Your Price: $1425.60      Quantity in Stock: 1

Krug Grande Cuvee 163rd Edition Brut Champagne Magnum
Price: $696.00    Your Price: $612.48          Not in Store: Available in 5 - 7 days

200-250 different wines go into this cuvee with great vineyards like the Clos du Mesnil going into the blends. Very complex bouquet of hazelnuts, marzipan and exotic spices like ginger and candied dried fruits. The true art of this cuvee being the consistency of the taste as Olivier pointed out he worked for the firm which carries his namesake for 15 years to discover the key to making this wine the same way it has been produced since 1845!

NV Krug Grand Cuvee 166th Edition Champagne
Price: $210.00    Your Price: $184.80         Quantity in Stock: 2

The 166ème Edition marks the 166th release of Grande Cuvée since the foundation of Maison Krug in 1843.  With the launch of numbered releases starting with Edition 166, Edition 166 becomes the third numbered release.  (95 Points) This mouthwatering Champagne feels like a swathe of raw silk on the palate, where flavors of sun-dried white cherry, toast and Meyer lemon peel are accented by expressive saffron, ground coffee and mandarin orange peel aromas. Long and racy on the honey-, spice- and smoke-laced finish. Disgorged winter 2017. Drink now through 2025.  Wine Spectator

Krug also makes a KILLER Rose!

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Krug Rose Brut Champagne NV 3 liter
Price: $3768.75    Your Price: $3316.50     Not in Store:      Available in 5 - 7 days

MV Krug Rose Brut Champagne
Price: $397.50    Your Price: $349.80          Quantity in Stock: 1

Multi-vintage means that this wine is assembled from several great vintages and this is the art of Champagne, blending a mosaic of wines together every year to created a consistently excellent Champagne. Pretty strawberry and raspberry coulis like fruit with notes of candied ginger spice and hints of pepper and spice.

A bit about Krug:

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"The Krug taste is both majestic and magisterial...there is the raw material, the attention to detail, the ageing, the handmade quality.  And there are the Krugs themselves, with their adherence to a certain vision of their wine, the palate memory of five generations, their lack of compromise...the "Krug taste" is an idée fixe, an obsession of the noblest kind.

Krug Champagne is a name that is synonymous with the highest quality - its aficionados claim that it belongs in the company of those stellar stalwarts like Rolls-Royce and Cartier.  To achieve this recognition, one needs more than just dedication or expertise (both of which the Krugs have in no short supply) or a large advertising budget.  One needs a philosophy of excellence that is steeped in history and is as solid and unconditional as a rock.  While many other Champagne firms have altered their styles to conform to modern tastes, the Krugs have basically never wavered from the traditions and styles established five generations ago.  And how successful has this policy been?  Robert Parker, perhaps America's foremost wine critic says: "There are a lot of fine Champagnes made in the world, but there is no better than that made by the very small house of Krug, whose champagnes are legendary not only for their quality but for their aging potential."  Serena Sutcliffe, a renowned British wine authority, in her marvelous book titled Champagne says: "In a changing world, where one is constantly reappraising values and beliefs in the light of experience and shifting ethical standards, Krug stands as solid and as reassuring as ever.  This edifice to quality and consistently high standards remains a monument to our ideas of excellence and a bastion in our fight against mediocrity."  This is a sampling of the high praise that comes from both sides of the Atlantic, but one need only ask a Champagne connoisseur from any part of the world: "Who produces the best Champagne?"  On everybody's short list will be the inimitable House of Krug.

Krug was founded in 1843 by Jean-Joseph Krug who was born in 1800 in Mainz, Germany, moved to Paris and then eventually settled in Champagne.  He rented a cellar in Reims and quickly established a reputation as a blender of cuvées.  His flair for quality soon attracted other Champagne houses whose owners solicited him to make up their own blends.  In a very short time the Krug firm began to prosper and export wine all over the world.  Jean-Joseph's son Paul succeeded him; and when Paul passed away in 1910, his eldest son, Joseph II (who harbored a true love of the sea more than a love of Champagne) reluctantly assumed control of the firm.  Joseph II was badly wounded during the fighting that raged in and around Champagne during World War I; and at war's end, his doctors had a very pessimistic prognosis for his survival.  Because his only son (Paul II) was still a child, he appointed a nephew as a general manager.  The doctors turned out to be wrong.  Joseph II eventually lived to be 98 years old, outlasted his nephew, and remained involved with Krug almost until his death.  Serena Sutcliffe instructs us that the moral of this happy ending is "...with champagne at one's side it does not do to be pessimistic about one's life expectancy."

Paul II began working in the business in 1935 and passed the firm on to his two sons, Henri and Rémi.  Henri handled most of the winemaking duties while Rémi was the managing director and Krug's ambassador-at -large.  Rémi tirelessly troted the globe promoting Krug in tastings and gatherings of "Krugies" about the world.  In May of 1990 we had the good fortune of joining Rémy Krug in a small luncheon at which was served the entire line of his Champagnes.  Besides this Grand Cuvée, we tasted (while listening to Rémy Krug extol the virtues and uniqueness of his Champagnes) the 1982 and 1964 vintages, the 1981 Clos du Mesnil, and the non-vintage rosé.  The Krug style - a common thread to all of them - was evident across the entire range of these quite different Champagnes.  There was the non-vintage Rosé with its deft balance, touch of raspberry cream, and its very pale color that reminded of the shyly rising sun in one of Monet's "Haystacks in Winter"; the elegant, austere, stylish 1982 vintage; the robust, lively flavors of the 1964 vintage with its honey-praline-hazelnut flavors; and the extremely austere, penetrating 1981 Clos du Mesnil with its toasty, vanilla, wheat-thin bouquet.  All were unmistakably Krug.

By Champagne standards Krug is quite small - less than 500,000 bottles (compared to 27,000,000 bottles annually at Moët) are produced.  Up until 1970, the Krugs purchased all the grapes for their Champagnes - preferring to leave the growing to those who knew how to do it best.  However, between 1970 and 1972 the Krugs acquired about fifteen hectares of land in Aÿ and Les Mesnil including a 1.87 hectare single vineyard known as Le Clos du Mesnil.  These vineyards are rated the top 100% in the échelles des cru (this is the rating system established in Champagne to classify the best vineyards and determine the price which the grapes can command).  The Clos du Mesnil - comprised of 100% Chardonnay - has existed since 1698 and is one of only three single-vineyard Champagnes produced in France.  The vineyards supply about 25% of Krug's needs, but only select growers are used for their remaining requirements.  A lady in Avize, for example, sells half her thirty hectare vineyard to the Krugs under a long term contract established in 1974.

Krug's wines - unlike most of the more "modern" houses - are fermented in oak casks.  The Krugs feel that the oak gives them the extra dimension of complexity and aromatics they seek in their wines.  Only the first pressing is used (Champagne law does not require it; but Krug law does!); the first pressing is known as the cuvée, and all Krug Champagne is cuvée only.  The wine is never filtered and is never released to market until five or more years after bottling (the longest in Champagne, to our knowledge).  The firm backs up its stocks with six years of supply from which to blend.  And for Krug, blending is the key. The Multi-vintage Grand Cuvée is Krug's bread and butter Champagne accounting for almost 80% of its production. Launched in 1978, the Grand Cuvée can be a blend of as many as fifty different base wines from as many as eight different vintages.  Like all Krug Champagnes it has an "intellectual" taste not well suited for all palates and one that goes better with food than most Champagnes (many of which are now relegated to service as forerunners to the meal rather than as companions with it)."  - Jim Turner, Founder of Wine Watch

Although the Krug family no longer owns the Champagne house, the house is now part of global conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH). Like most of the companies in the group, Krug runs with a certain amount of autonomy and Oliver Krug is now the face of the Krug family in charge of Marketing and still has a good deal to do with production.  The style has remained the same while the production at Krug may be up a little bit (I would bet that Moet is making more than 27,000,000 bottles annually today), Krug is still one of the ultimate collectibles from Champagne today.  This perceived and real autonomy has played a large role in maintaining the house's reputation and consistent style.