In view of the recent thread about the MV Krug 164 eme, I pulled this bottle out of a soon to be posted thread regarding a dinner with champagnes, grand cru white and red Burgundy’s.
MV KRUG GRANDE CUVEE- the ID code [214035] gave information that included this bottle being made from 183 different wines from 12 different vintages from 1990-2007, receiving its cork in 2014 and although not on the label, it is known as 163 eme; made from 37% Pinot Noir, 32% Chardonnay and 31% Pinot Meunier; this was the 4th bottle of 6 that I bought from the same blend and it was the best by far and the others were really good; pleasant and inviting aromatics jump out of the glass and are followed by an ever unfolding and expanding taste profile which included spicy and toasty brioche accents to the initial lemon lime flavours which gave way to honeysuckle then some nectarine and apricot came in by mid palate; the texture was creamy and rich and carried all of the treasures to the back end with staying power; it had bright acidity, layered depth and exuded power and finesse; absolutely the total package.
Always appreciate your in depth questions Jeremy and this is a good one and one I should included in notes. I had this on a fully enclosed ice only chill for hours, popped and poured it and returned it to its ice containment. My notes reflect some time in the glass as we were limited by having 16 pours.
Thanks for posting this Blake, I really appreciate it. I’ll be opening a 163 in two weeks time and it’s always nice to see a positive TN to build anticipation.
I found it curious that your Krug iD was 214035 as the 163 I’ve got is a 314057. I had a look and it appears that the only difference between the two is when it received its cork. Yours was Spring 2014, mine is Summer 2014. I guess that leads to the inevitable question of how much of an impact (if any) does the date the wine receives its cork have on the underlying wine?
From a quick check of the other Krug iDs listed on krug.com it does seem that the first three digits are a combination of season and year the wine received its cork, at least in reference to the Grande Cuvee. The Krug GC 155 eme has a Krug iD of 204025 and it received its cork in Spring of 2004.
Strangely the Krug Clos du Mesnil 2003 has a Krug iD of 214027 and yes received its cork in Autumn of 2014. That makes me think it should have instead been 414027 if the first digit is meant to represent the season the wine received its cork. Link to that wine below.
Andrew, I love that you picked up on the code difference and yet the same wine with a different cork date. I had not thought that would be the case, but it obviously is. Perhaps the cork date reflects a different batch. I would not think it is the same batch and the wine has sat for another few months.
Does your 163 show on the bottle or just in the code write up?
Im inclined to agree with Andrews assumption. Also, I found some lettering below the ID number which on this bottle was LLLOAJ. I have no idea what this represents.
The code of XYY### is only an approximate date of when it was corked/disgorged. It actually relates to identifying when a batch of corks came in. It is a number (1-6) that represents a two month timeframe (1= Jan/Feb, 2= Mar/Apr, 3 = May/Jun, etc…). In reality it is only accurate within a few months of disgorgement and this is shown in the data above - sometimes it is right on and sometimes a little off.
The Krug ID and Cork Code basically give you an idea of the disgorgement. The extra letter code and etched lot number allow for tracking of exactly when the bottle rolled down the bottling line for disgorgement, labeling, packaging, etc…
Cheers Blake! My 163 doesn’t show on the bottle, only through the ID. And Brad, thanks for chiming in, it’s always good to get info from those more knowledgeable about these things!
No, that one is out of my league. You can send it in to Krug or LVMH and they can help you out, but this isn’t something we can decipher. You need their database to track what that code means (same for the laser etched lot number). In general, it isn’t going to give you all that much more relevant info than the Krug ID other than letting you know when a bottle left the cellars of Krug. With the lot number you can track that plus when an importer passes a bottle off to a distributor. But, again, you would need their database to get this info. Sorry that I don’t have better information for you.
Also, I just found this in my notes re some other releases:
Krug “Grande Cuvée” 160 Ème Édition Brut Champagne $159.99: Based on 2004, this Grand Cuvee is assembled from 121 lots from 12 different vintages. The oldest wine is from 1990. The varietal composition is not available.
Krug “Grande Cuvée” 161 Ème Édition Brut Champagne $159.99: Based on 2005, this Grand Cuvee is assembled from 134 lots from 12 different vintages, the oldest being 1990. It is composed of 44% Pinot Noir, 37% Chardonnay and 19% Meunier.
Krug “Grande Cuvée” 162 Ème Édition Brut Champagne $159.99: Based on 2006, this Grand Cuvee is assembled from 142 lots from 11 different vintages, the oldest being 1990. It is composed of 44% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 21% Meunier.
