Krug Grande Cuvée and Krug Rosé tasting
Gothenburg
Tasted Saturday, October 13, 2012 by Vintomas with 1,212 views
Introduction
A big tasting arranged via the Swedish forum finewines.se that included Krug Grande Cuvée of all different label designs (the easiest way of identifying the age of older bottles) since it was introduced 1978, plus two magnums, three rosés and a Private Cuvée. Also a flight of bonus wines brought by the participants.
Flight 1 - Krug Grande Cuvée and Krug Rosé (12 Notes)
Wines served open, ordered more or less by increasing age, but with an additional young Grande Cuvée at the end.
Flight 2 - Bonus wines (7 Notes)
All wines served blind, but the 1949 Moulin Touchais was from me so I knew what it was.
Closing
This tasting again showed that Krug produces very long-lived wines. The one that I considered best had been sold some time around 1980!
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 92 Points
France, Champagne
Nose: pronounced smokey and toasted notes, tosted hazelnuts, a hint of vanilla, yellow apple, a hint of peach. More fruit and less smoke after some time in the glass.
Palate: more than medium bodied, green and yellow apple, a hint of peach, very strong mineral notes, high acidity, slightly spicy, long and fresh aftertaste with mineral.
Unusually toasted and accessible for a young, recently purchased Krug, and more accessible than the other two with base vintage 2004 that I’ve tasted recently. The elegance bodes well for the 2004-based Krugs when they get more years on the cork, but at this stage it is still a young wine. 92+ p
Recently purchased, beige label with ID code 311028 (disgorged 2011, base vintage 2004)
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé 92 Points
France, Champagne
Appearance: orange-tinged copper.
Nose: wild strawberries, partially dried orange zest and citrus fruit, slightly developed “Burgundy-like” notes with leather and decaying leaves. The oak is not as noticeable here as it is in the youngest white Krug.
Palate: powerful, quite good concentration of fruit, wild strawberries, blood grapefruit, red apple, mineral, rather high acidity. Aftertaste with wild strawberries and freshness.
Pleasant nose, the palate has quite a lot of power but not quite the acidity and vigour of the white with 2004, so we guess that there is base wine from 2003 in this one. Rather young.
Recently purchased, purple label, ID code 410015, disgorged (late) 2010.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 92 Points
France, Champagne
Nose: slightly nutty and bready, some toasted hazelnuts, peach, yellow apple, slightly perfumed, some mineral and a little more tropical notes than the other relatively young GC.
Palate: good concentration of fruit, yellow apple, peach, strong mineral notes, rather high acidity, a hint of grapefruit bitterness.
Pleasant with some developed notes. Still rather young, but probably doesn’t quite have the same potential as the current release with base vintage 2004.
Beige label, without ID code, disgorged 2007 (cork code V751).
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 94 Points
France, Champagne
Nose: very toasted and smokey, hazelnuts, coffee, yellow apple, noticeable development with mushroom notes, wonderful and elegant.
Palate: good concentration of fruit and full-bodied, slightly oily impression, yellow apple, cirus, some peach, a hint of bitterness, rather high acidity, mineral. Fresh and minerally aftertaste.
Developed notes, but of a different kind than no 3. Accessible and developed in the nose, but could develop more. Best persistence in the glass of all wines of the lineup.
From magnum with beige label, without ID code. Disgorged 2005 (cork code V555).
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé 93 Points
France, Champagne
Appearance: pale orange-pink copper.
Nose: wild strawberries, ripe citrus fruit and zest, blood grapefruit, red apple, slightly developed with discrete leather notes.
Palate: rather full-bodied, very fresh style, wild strawberries, citrus fruits, blood grape fruit, some red apple, spicy, high acidity. Aftertaste with mineral, citrus and wild strawberries.
Slightly more citrus notes than the other, slightly younger Krug Rosé, more fresh style with higher acidity. Comes across as younger, but the spicy notes makes it accessible. 93+ p
Purple label, without ID code. Disgorged (early) 2010 (cork code V020). Was reasonably disgorged half a year before no 2 and should be one of the last that were sold without ID code. We guess from the style of the wine, compared to no 2, that it could possibly have 2002 as base vintage.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 92 Points
France, Champagne
Appearance: golden yellow
Nose: ripe yellow fruit, apples and some red berries, some dried yellow fruit, apple compote, orange zest, some oxidized notes with dried berries, some mushroom notes, slightly aromatic. Rather typical for a mature Krug.
Palate: yellow apples, spicy, fresh style, high acidity, mineral. Fresh and fruity aftertaste.
Fully mature, but not tired. It is however on the “older side” of the gold label Grande Cuvées I’ve had. 92 p
Gold label, should be from approximately 1995-2000. Cork code “15″, the lack of a V code indicates that it should be among the older of this label design.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé 89 Points
France, Champagne
Appearance: amber
Nose: clearly oxidized/madeirized notes with nutty sherry-like aromas, yellow fruit, some candied fruit, not too complex, slightly “overage”.
Palate: spicy, winter apples, citrus, rather high acidity, slight bitterness – both grapefruit-style bitterness and old wine-style bitterness.
Somewhat overoxidized and the most “tired” wine of the tasting. But still interesting and fully drinkable.
Silver label, from the 1980s or 1990s? No cork code.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 92 Points
France, Champagne
Appearance: amber, slightly cloudy
Nose: nutty, definitely developed with slightly madeirized notes, dried yellow fruit, orange and orange peel, rather aromatic.
Palate: dried fruit, orange, some winter apples, rather high acidity, mineral, spice, developed notes.
Fully mature but still vigorous.
White/pale yellow label, sold sometime 1982-1996.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 93 Points
France, Champagne
Appearance: golden yellow with some amber hints
Nose: smokey with toasted hazelnuts, yellow fruit and oranges, yellow apples and winter apples, a hint of oxidation notes, development with some mushroom notes, undergrowth, wet moss and some dill.
Palate: citrus, oranges, red apples, some winter apples, noticeable minerality, quite high acidity, somewhat spicy. Long aftertaste with grapefruit, mineral and some spice.
Fully developed, higher acidity and fresher style than the 75 cl bottle of the same label design.
From magnum with white/pale yellow label, sold 1982-1996.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 95 Points
France, Champagne
Appearance: golden yellow with some amber hints
Nose: cocoa powder, yellow fruit, red berries, a hint of nuttiness, hints of oxidation notes, some mature notes with mushroom. Very elegant and nuanced, more or less perfect mature Champagne nose.
Palate: yellow and red apples, oranges, other citrus fruits, some winter apples, rather high acidity, spice, some mineral.
A truly delicious nose, the palate is equivalent to the oldest magnum in the same tasting ("white label"). Interesting enough, it comes across as younger than the 75 cl bottle of "white label", but still fully mature.
Yellow label (with solid red border and short foil), sold 1978-1983.
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NV Krug Champagne Private Cuvée 92 Points
France, Champagne
Appearance: amber, slighly cloudy.
Nose: rather smokey, somewhat madeirized notes, cocoa powder, some oranges and yellow fruit, some mushroom, nuanced.
Palate: spice, yellow fruit, oranges, other citrus fruits, high acidity, long and fresh aftertaste.
I’d have to say that this is marvelous for its age, but fully mature. 92 p
This bottle from the 1960s or 1970s, definitely from before 1978. Apparently this had been purchased in an online auction, as part of a lot of several bottles, where a couple of the other had been much weaker than this, so we were positively surprised. However, everyone’s supposed to be lucky once in a while!
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 91 Points
France, Champagne
Nose: slightly smokey and toasted notes, yellow apple, peach, a hint of perfume, some vanilla.
Palate: citrus, yellow apple, high acidity, mineral, some spice.
Definitely young, comes across as younger than the other 2004-base Grande Cuvée, and in line with how I have perceived the typical bottles with 2004 base vintage in current distribution. 91+ p
Recently purchased, beige label with ID code 211024 (disgorged 2011, base vintage 2004)
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