Winemaker Description
Krug Grande Cuvée is re-created every year, beyond the notion of vintage and is a blend of over 120 individual wines from more than 10 different years. The fullness or flavours and aromas achieved by this careful art of blending would be impossible to express with the wines of a single year.
Expert Reviews
97 Points James Suckling | This is a layered Champagne with very fine tannins and super beautiful texture and length. Full-bodied with intensity and length. Powerful, austere and tight. Really long and made for the cellar. Vivid.
96 Points Decanter | Soft burnished gold, with a fine and persistent bead. The nose is suitably encyclopaedic, Mirabelle plum, fig and lemon pith and then hints of almond and brioche, the older reserve wines keen to contribute too. Beneath it all steely foundations, an edifice for posterity, not immediately flamboyant but magisterial in its grip and liminal potential. Deft acidity over untroubled waters, with orange groves and a spice market espied from the prow. All is set fair for this voyage. Impressive length.
96+ Points Wine Advocate | Based on the 2013 vintage and complemented by some 40% reserve wines dating back to 2000, Krug's newly released NV Grande Cuvée 169ème Édition is showing very nicely, unfurling in the glass with notes of citrus oil, buttered toast, dried apricot, warm biscuits and marmalade. Medium to full-bodied, deep and incisive, it's a tauter, more chiseled rendition of Grande Cuvée by comparison with the richer, more textural and more demonstrative 168ème Édition (based on the 2012 vintage) that preceded it; but its bright spine of acidity is nicely cloaked in fruit. Concluding with a long and sapid finish, this is a very classically balanced Champagne that will reward bottle age.
96 Points Wine Spectator | A vivid Champagne, with a chiseled frame of acidity and a chalky underpinning cloaked in a fine mousse that caresses the palate with its gossamer-like texture. Lovely aromas of coffee liqueur, anise and verbena accent the layered flavors of tangerine, Macadamia nut, brioche and ripe plum, a profile that expands on the long, mouthwatering finish. There's power and expressive character to this, with a delicacy to its fine integration and length.
95 Points John Gilman | The new release of Krug Grande Cuvée the 169ème Édition is from the base year of 2013 but includes fully forty percent of reserve wines all the way back to the harvest of 2000. The cépages for this new iteration of Grande Cuvée is forty-three percent Pinot Noir thirty-five percent Chardonnay and twenty-two percent Pinot Meunier. The wine is beautifully expressive on the nose wafting from the glass in a complex blend of pear apple a touch of passion fruit chalky soil tones brioche incipient notes of caraway seed just a whisper of buttery oak and lovely floral tones in the upper register from the pinot meunier component in the cépages. On the palate the wine is deep full-bodied complex and racy with a great core zesty acids elegant mousse and a very long very pure and perfectly balanced finish. This is really a stunning new version of Grande Cuvée. It is approachable already but I would be inclined to give it just a few more years in the cellar and let its girdle of acidity relax a bit more so that the wine can deepen and broaden in its palate impression. Fine fine juice.
95 Points Wine Enthusiast | Pinot richness dominates this Champagne. It gives the dense texture as well as the ripe white fruits that show signs of toastiness as they mature. This full-bodied Champagne is ready to drink.
94 Points Vinous | Krug's NV Grande Cuvée 169ème Édition is brisk and finely cut, with terrific energy driving the citrus, floral and light tropical notes. Even with all of its energy, the 169 balances the vibrancy of the late-ripening 2013 vintage it is built on, with the depth that the reserve wines added to the blend. The 169 drinks well now but clearly has the potential to age. The 169 is a blend of 146 separate wines back to 2000.
Jancis Robinson 18.5/20 Points | Deep copper gold. Tiny, tiny bead. Much more obvious acidity, age and (lightly oaky?) savour on the nose than Cristal 2013. Aérien with blossomy notes with a little mandarin. Very marked acidity on the palate. A real wake-up call! Sleek and fresh and truly spring-like with a light yeasty note on the very long finish. The most pleasure to be had initially is in the nose and the finish. The palate is still a bit of shock. This should have a long life. Bone-dry finish and playing the intellectual card. Throbs on the palate with all its vibrancy. Long. Tighter than the 168ème Édition. Structure dominates fruit.
