Krug MV is good in even awful base vintages, so I’m sure it’s very tasty. Waiting for the pre-arrival initial wave to die down in price and will buy. Already seeing pricing drop with each pre-arrival email. Will flood the market soon enough.
Krug Grande Cuvée Édition 164 : £585 IB / case (6)
Available at Octavian mid July
This bottle (164th Edition), a blend of 127 wines from 11 different years (youngest 2008 – oldest 1990) spent at least 8 years in Krug’s cellars, receiving its cork in spring 2016.
Harvest
Krug Grande Cuvée 164ème Édition was composed around the harvest of 2008. Following a mild winter, overcast spring and cool summer, there was concern over the maturation of the grapes, further compounded by a severe hailstorm that hit the village of Saint-Gemme, reputed for its plots of Meunier. But in mid-September, the clouds miraculously parted and favourable conditions lasted throughout the harvest, which gave us grapes in excellent health and with a good level of maturity.
Blend
The year’s Chardonnay wines revealed an unusual generosity and suppleness, while the Pinot Noirs were characterful and bold, with a lively finish. As feared, the hailstorm did indeed leave its mark on the Meuniers. As if waiting for just such an occasion in the House’s extensive library reserve wines, two Sainte-Gemme Meuniers from 2002 and 2006 contributed their radiant fruit to the blend. Pinot Noir reserve wines from the southern plots of the Montagne de Reims brought liveliness while those from Verzenay and Ay in 2002 and 2004 gave elegant structure. Finally, reserve Chardonnays from Villers Marmery and Trépail added their touch of freshness. In all, the reserve wines made up 38% of the final blend, bringing the breadth and roundness so essential to every Édition of Krug Grande Cuvée.
The final composition of this bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée is 48% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 17% Meunier.
The dynamism of Krug Grande Cuvée is positively infectious; each edition of the most lauded multi-vintage Champagne has its own individual story, but each wine stays true to the standards of the house. Since the inception of Champagne Krug in 1843, it has been the tradition of Joseph Krug and his descendants to craft an elegant and multifaceted Champagne worthy of being the best of the best each edition.
Which brings us to the very special, and also pretty limited, 164éme, the Krug MV whose base wine is the fabulous 2008 vintage (and its oldest is 1990, corked in the spring of 2014). It goes without saying that this is one that Grand Cuvée aficionados will not want to miss, as it is also a short-production cuvée and we are told that it will only be in the market a few months before it will be gone. We had the pleasure of tasting this masterpiece recently and it shows why this Champagne, and this Champagne house, is one of the great treasures that the region has given us.
Envoyer was offering this Monday for $160. Zero interest at that price, but if we can get a great price for a large group purchase I would also be interested.
Whilst I really like Krug, the normal price has been beyond what I’d pay for a decade or so. Last purchases were two halves in a chance stumble across a sale at the start of 2013. I can’t remember the price, but I think somewhere between £30 and £40 a half, us taking two out of the remaining 3 bottles.