This is a magnum so a year behind the current release of 750ml bottles. According to the ID code (415058), it's based on the 2007 vintage (73% of the blend) with 11 other reserve vintages back to 1990, 37% pinot noir, 32% chardonnay, and 31% meunier. I would have guessed a much higher white grape percentage. Aromatics are very toasty - sawdust and some nuts. It's bright, pure, and cleansing with bracingly lemony fruit but it hits the palate like a sweeping chord even though it's focused on the higher registers. The attack is fresh and fruity but it's more tertiary on the back end, where it shows flint and root beer flavorings.
Much more reticent aromas than the Grande Cuvée, but with a hint of that jammy compote that I love about maturing Mesnil. Seriously acute on the first sip, a vortex pulling everything towards one pinprick point in the center. Despite being all chardonnay this is darker toned than the Grande Cuvée and in fact the flavors have moved past fruit at all to evoke things like grain, hay, creaky old wood floors. There is just a hint of that compote lurking in the back and forecasting some (much needed) sweetness and sunshine, but for the most part that trait is more manifest in its shape, which has brassy, bulbous contours at least once it has the chance to fan out from that initial spiky feeling. It is hard to taste a wine like this without thinking about its price tag for better or for worse. I'm grateful to have gotten the chance to taste it the cheap way. If you like Dom Perignon or Taittinger Comtes more than regular Krug, you will like Salon more than this. (You will probably also like DP or Comtes more than this.)
37% pinot noir, 39% chardonnay and 24% meunier. Very deep in tone (here the red-heavy blend is not a surprise), but there is a hollowness in the middle. This is completely beyond fruit, a little metallic, a little funky (like, quite vividly, body sweat), and a little spicy (like coriander). The winery notes characterize the year as "Luminous Freshness," which is not quite the experience I'm getting out of this bottle. Fair to call this interesting but it doesn't ding very high on my pleasure meter.
I am generally not a fan of rosé Champagne but I'm not even sure I would have noticed this was rosé with my eyes closed. It does have some slightly redder flavors in the mix, more on the rosy floral side than berries, but nothing I haven't tasted in a blanc de noirs that stayed blanc. Maybe there is juuuuust a bit of flaky cotton candy sweetness that surfaces on the nose. This is based on the 2008 vintage with reserve wines back to 2000--according to the Krug rep, deliberately made younger and fresher than the Grande Cuvée--51% pinot noir, 41% chardonnay and 8% meunier, made pink (barely) with 10% still Ay pinot noir.
This is based on the 2004 vintage (65% of the blend), but I *much* preferred it to the 2004 vintage bottling. 12 reserve vintages back to 1990. Poured from a jeroboam, which in theory is supposed to hold its freshness longer, and it's still pure and refreshing but is showing serious payoff from the extra few years it's had in bottle (bottled in 2014). Aromatics are mature, beyond fruit. The flavors are basically the same as the 163ème but everything is thicker and bolder, especially the flint. This is the 163ème with a Super Mario power-up and my favorite of the evening.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 163eme 94 Points
France, Champagne
This is a magnum so a year behind the current release of 750ml bottles. According to the ID code (415058), it's based on the 2007 vintage (73% of the blend) with 11 other reserve vintages back to 1990, 37% pinot noir, 32% chardonnay, and 31% meunier. I would have guessed a much higher white grape percentage. Aromatics are very toasty - sawdust and some nuts. It's bright, pure, and cleansing with bracingly lemony fruit but it hits the palate like a sweeping chord even though it's focused on the higher registers. The attack is fresh and fruity but it's more tertiary on the back end, where it shows flint and root beer flavorings.
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2002 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil 93 Points
France, Champagne
Much more reticent aromas than the Grande Cuvée, but with a hint of that jammy compote that I love about maturing Mesnil. Seriously acute on the first sip, a vortex pulling everything towards one pinprick point in the center. Despite being all chardonnay this is darker toned than the Grande Cuvée and in fact the flavors have moved past fruit at all to evoke things like grain, hay, creaky old wood floors. There is just a hint of that compote lurking in the back and forecasting some (much needed) sweetness and sunshine, but for the most part that trait is more manifest in its shape, which has brassy, bulbous contours at least once it has the chance to fan out from that initial spiky feeling. It is hard to taste a wine like this without thinking about its price tag for better or for worse. I'm grateful to have gotten the chance to taste it the cheap way. If you like Dom Perignon or Taittinger Comtes more than regular Krug, you will like Salon more than this. (You will probably also like DP or Comtes more than this.)
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2004 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut 88 Points
France, Champagne
37% pinot noir, 39% chardonnay and 24% meunier. Very deep in tone (here the red-heavy blend is not a surprise), but there is a hollowness in the middle. This is completely beyond fruit, a little metallic, a little funky (like, quite vividly, body sweat), and a little spicy (like coriander). The winery notes characterize the year as "Luminous Freshness," which is not quite the experience I'm getting out of this bottle. Fair to call this interesting but it doesn't ding very high on my pleasure meter.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Rosé Edition 21eme 90 Points
France, Champagne
I am generally not a fan of rosé Champagne but I'm not even sure I would have noticed this was rosé with my eyes closed. It does have some slightly redder flavors in the mix, more on the rosy floral side than berries, but nothing I haven't tasted in a blanc de noirs that stayed blanc. Maybe there is juuuuust a bit of flaky cotton candy sweetness that surfaces on the nose. This is based on the 2008 vintage with reserve wines back to 2000--according to the Krug rep, deliberately made younger and fresher than the Grande Cuvée--51% pinot noir, 41% chardonnay and 8% meunier, made pink (barely) with 10% still Ay pinot noir.
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NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée Edition 160eme 95 Points
France, Champagne
This is based on the 2004 vintage (65% of the blend), but I *much* preferred it to the 2004 vintage bottling. 12 reserve vintages back to 1990. Poured from a jeroboam, which in theory is supposed to hold its freshness longer, and it's still pure and refreshing but is showing serious payoff from the extra few years it's had in bottle (bottled in 2014). Aromatics are mature, beyond fruit. The flavors are basically the same as the 163ème but everything is thicker and bolder, especially the flint. This is the 163ème with a Super Mario power-up and my favorite of the evening.
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