TN's: K-R-U-G Krug Krug Krug !!!

WINE TALK
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Had the honor of being invited to the '96 Krug Clos d’Ambonnay release dinner at Daniel last night. Started off with a few other Krug’s before the showcased wine.

Krug Rose - Very tropical with some melon and cantaloupe aromas. Big juicy red fruits on the palate. Soft finish without any rough edges on the finish I usually get with young rose’s. However, not overly complex but I would still be a buyer if the price point was lower. Olivier made an interesting comment in that he felt the Rose should be drunk in its youth otherwise it will taste similar to the Grande Cuvee. Excellent minus

96 Krug - I won’t beat to death the tasting notes on this wine, so I’ll just say this was another strong showing. Staggering minus

'96 Krug Clos d’Ambonnay - a big powerful wine with heavy rich fruit that is cut and kept in check by the acidity. To me, very obvious pinot fruit, more so than the '95 version. I’d heard that this was strikingly similar to the '96 Krug vintage, but drinking them side by side, it is not. Already some mature notes and good complexity. The million dollar question - How will it age? Is it a 25yr or 50 yr wine? Olivier was refreshingly candid and said “We’ll have to wait and see, nobody knows”. It will be interesting to track these wines. The '95 has improved each of the four times I’ve tasted it and was more austere on release than the '96 was last evening. The release price will be lower than last year, but its still extremely high tariff limits how often you can check its evolution. with room to move up the trademarked KA rating scale, it’s currently an Excellent plus.

A few of us brought some extra wines to drink and share with Olivier.

'76 Krug - the Hillbilly started us off with this wine - it was actually the first wine of the evening that we consumed. Big and rich showing its vintage traits. Some hints of green apple, touches of honey and custard. Terrific acidity cuts through it like a knife. Terrific example. Staggering minus.

'76 Krug - The Returner’s bottle wasn’t as fresh or complex as the previous bottle we drank. Maybe tissue isn’t always a good thing?
Excellent minus

'79 Krug Collection Magnum - the midwest made its presence felt with this rock solid mag. The only downside to this was that we didin’t have the luxury of watching this evolve in the glass over a few hours which always improves with some air. It still offered some vivid fruit, with grilled nuts and honey. The beauty of the Collection wines is they always deliver. Excellent plus

'64 Krug - Another Hillbilly offering, this bottle was from the same batch he’s generously shared with us in the past. At a perfect level of maturity, this showed a fair amount of white chocolate on the nose. Very rich, some oxidative notes, long finish. Excellent plus

A couple of Batmobiles arrived and whisked us off to the Bat Cave for some more Heavy Lumber.

'81 Krug Clos du Mesnil - donated by the New England crew this was a perfect palate refresher. Yellow fruit, some minerals and chalk with vivid acidity reminiscent of a wine half its age. Excellent plus.

'49 Krug - KOC usually supplies the heaviest lumber and this night was no different. Only my second time having this vintage of Krug, but I still can’t imagine a better showing than this bottle. A classic Krug with big brooding fruit that expands on the palate and then finishes into an eternity. honey, coffee, a touch of creme brulee. Still structured, this bottle surely could have lasted another 20+ years, but I’m glad it didn’t . Killer minus

'59 Krug - was a KA selection and out of the gate I thought it was good but not great. KOC and Olivier were more upbeat but the South and the Returner were poo-pooing it. At first the finish was my issue with the wine - mouthpuckering tartness reminding me of not quite ripe green apples. However, with time in the glass, this really gained richness and the tartness disappeared. Hard placement between the previous and the next wine, but in the end it sort of held its own. Excellent plus.

'66 Krug - at first I thought the Returner was going to go 0 for 2 when the cork broke in the bottle and then a few more rough moments to remove the cork with a corkscrew seem to seal this bottle’s fate. However, when finally removed a loud “pop” was heard and hopes were raised. Wow was this a sound bottle, with the cork that couldn’t be removed blocking any oxygen from entering the bottle. Gave the '49 a run for its money, but couldn’t quite get there. Staggering plus.

'59 Salon - KOC had a purpose in serving this blind, but it didn’t work out on this evening (now morning). Very strangely affected bottle - porcini mushrooms dominated the wine. DQ

I was about to leave but KOC wanted to finish with a red and a bang, so he twisted my arm and served -

'71 DRC RC - quite a bit of fine sediment in this bottle. After the fifth glass the balance was too cloudy so we split the five glasses into seven which was still an ample pour. Fantastic aromatics, great fruit, underbrush, leather et al on the palate with a long finish and perfect balance of acidity. This is an all-time great and benchmark red burgundy. Killer minus.

Thanks to Olivier Krug and many of the usual suspects for a terrific evening of wine with great laughs as well.

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Staggering ++ report!!! Amazing…

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J E T S Jets Jets Jets

Come up with your own Krug chant!

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At least Ray is cheering for a winner. neener

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Go Red Sox…oops newhere

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Ray, thank you for the notes - what a spectacular event!

The '49 and '66 must be insane - who kept such bottles around for such an occasion?

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Holy mother of god


Nice going!!! [welldone.gif]

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Yowser! What a fabulous tasting. One of my groups here has started talking about an all-Krug dinner, so this gives me a glimpse of what we can look forward to. I can’t imagine us corralling quite the bevvy that you all tasted. Good job!

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Wow. Thanks for sharing the notes, must have been quite a night.

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Nothing like finishing up an epic night of Krug with a '71 Conti. Nice job.

[thumbs-up.gif]

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Todd,

I’m always perplexed and upset when I hear of people who own great wines but never drink them. I guess I really shouldn’t be otherwise I wouldn’t have had the oppurtunity to drink wines from decades past.


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I’ll send a note to the LVMH marketing team. After seeing the Krug Trunk and the Krug Hat Box (saw the latter for the first time last evening) I’m guessing they’ll be able to come up with something.

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Krug Hat box?

Nice!

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In one of Ruth Reichl’s memoirs, she described the meals she had with Colman Andrews when they were “dating”. he started every meal-- every meal– with a bottle of '66 Krug.

I’m surprised there’s any left [wink.gif]

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49 and 66 krug were revelations!

The dating anecdote reminds me to think about what wines being made today will be as stunning in 40+ years? May we all be around to try the 66 76 and 96 krug as a flight in 2036 or so!

As for the hat box, it was good minus on the ka scale.

The cornbeefed apron however was excellent plus

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I look forward to a day when I can attend such an event. Thanks for sharing.

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Add me to that list, Doug!

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Ray: As usual, very nice evening; for what it’s worth, the notes on the 76 regular and 79 collection echo my experience with bottles out here recently. Will be interesting to see where Krug prices the 96 Ambonnay for Japan, since the 95 hasn’t sold at all. Have you had any recent experience with 73 collection mags?

Thanks again for the notes. Always a good read.

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Another low key night! Thanks for taking the time to share your notes Ray.

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???

Someone pranking Ray?