Dinner with Olivier Krug

A super evening impeccably orchestrated by Guy Ruston at Bordeaux Index and an impressive team from Krug and the Mandarin Oriental to mark the Hong Kong launch of the 2003 Vintage and 2003 Clos Du Mesnil.

For the first time in my experience, each wine was 'paired' with music: a classic song performed by an Italian baritone and a Chinese violinist that sought to capture its character.

Olivier Krug is a great character and nearly overshadowed his wines on occasion. He has been well-trained by LVMH on how to sell 'Luxury'.

This is the latest release and was really great as an aperitif from Magnum.

• NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée 88 Points

  France, Champagne

  From magnum and the most recent release. Quite golden in colour. Small, languid bubbles. Nose is masculine and toasty - depth, oak, definite Chardonnay character, hints of mushroom. Palate is petillante and lots of acidic cut - razor sharp on the edges of the tongue, grapefruit, mouthwatering, refreshing....the Pinot Noir comes through to the fore. Young, still too young. We then drank single format bottles at the end of the dinner and they displayed a more burnished character. Not as impressed as when I drank it in a Krug vs Dom Perignon dinner in 2011 but that would have been a more aged bottle. Others liked this much more than me but I still don't quite 'get' this wine.

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A masterpiece of a dish: set out as pebbles and seaweed on a sandy seashore rock. It looked amazing and tasted even better!

• 2003 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil 94 Points

  France, Champagne

  Silver gold, almost like a NZ Sauvignon Blanc in colour. Very little bead when served in a wine glass. Nose is pinpoint, pinprick, intense high piano note purity and precision....then there is smoke and rich oak......heady, very complex and pure. Palate is a crescendo of the sensations from the nose..... fantastic linear purity, sharpness like a perfectly-honed Japanese ceremonial sword blade, great elegant balance of burnished copper and rich but high-toned caramel boiled sweets. Very fresh in the mouth. Great 'power without weight'. Tons of flinty minerality that shouts of its single-vineyard terroir. Huge precision and focus- obviously single-plot compared to the Krug 2003 Vintage drank alongside it. Some resonance but still very young....but lovely - like a young Montrachet with bubbles. After 2 hours in the glass it demonstrates even greater precision on the nose. 'Vivacious' is the word that kept coming into my head. Lovely. This will develop into a very special wine over the coming decade.

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There are Spring Rolls and then there are the Mandarin chef's spring rolls......perfectly matched to the champagne.

• NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé 88 Points

  France, Champagne

  A distinctly orangey pink colour that reminded me of pink grapefruit. This has a ton of vibrant and vigorous beads of fast-rising pinprick bubbles even when served in a wine glass. Nose is immediately almost like raw salmon then followed by salinity and ozone, then toasted wholemeal bread, the faintest hint of red berries in the background, elegant, very light, hints of sandalwood spice box. Palate is spices - depth, character, a very nice dryness and some tannic structure. Great aftertaste. No length or resonance. Better with food....quite good with a milk-fed veal dish.

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A rich, hedonistic and deeply satisfying dish that re-wrote any previous conception of 'Macaroni' as a boring kids' food.

• 2003 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  Olivier Krug pointed out with pride that they had made this wine with 25% Pinot Meunier to maintain its freshness in a very hot year......"but not Pinot Meunier as we know it, Jim", he might have added.
  
  Medium silver-gold colour. Lively, vigourous and persistent streams of pinprick-sized bubbles. Nose is toasty, rich, inviting, fresh, tons of depth - quite mesmerising. Palate is amazingly fresh, pure and scimitar-blade cutting sharpness. High-toned. Resonant and reverberant inside the head - young but really gorgeous, it rings inside your head like a hand bell. Seems low dosage - lean and high-cheekbones. It gets richer with time in the glass, like a young Batard-Montrachet with bubbles. Stupendous.....but it completely falls over after 2 hours in the glass whereas the 2003 Clos Du Mesnil was still going from strength to strength. Whatever, it is so lovely to drink that few would nurse a glass for that long.

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Served with Krug Grand Cuvee........very rich indeed. Too much so for a Tuesday evening.....but it did show the Grand Cuvee's ability to master most food thrown at it figuratively speaking.

Personally, I still don't quite 'get' Krug from a 'wow' perspective (particularly the Grand Cru) and especially from a QPR perspective but there is no doubt these wines are made with ferocious attention to detail and a passion for what they do.