Krug

Krug, Grande Cuvée, Edition, 169th

Name: Krug, Grande Cuvée, Edition
Brand: Krug

96+/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

94/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 172ND 167TH 169TH 173RD

delivery

in bond

portfolio

Last Few
169TH
3x1.5L
DP
£1,519.93

Broking

169TH
6x75cl
DP
£1,003.93

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

The task of composing a new Grande Cuvée must be mind-boggling. For this, the 172nd Edition, Julie Cavil, Krug’s Cellar Master, has selected 146 different reserve wines spanning 11 different vintages (the oldest 1998) and threaded them together around the 2016 vintage. The potential permutations of such a blend are endless – no wonder there’s an official tasting committee to help decide the final composition. Producing the goods year in year out is an incredible feat, testament to quality of Krug’s vineyards, winemakers and blenders; rarely does a bottle not captivate the senses. This is a quintessential Krug, full of detail, structure, freshness and density. Its qualities embody the Krug Grande Cuvée style, though if we had to be ultra specific, we’d suggest this is a particularly generous, structured, and expressive rendition. It is quite simply a Champagne of the highest order, guaranteed to give pleasure now, or at any time over the next 10 to 20 years. Scratched essential citrus oils and fine toast and salt. Glorious savoury depth and essential oil character. This is inimitable Krug. Such deep citrus and toast and chalk over an extract heavy structure. Fine patisserie with some air - crisp flaky pastry - lemon flesh, white flowers and chalk. Lovely rich pink grapefruit flavours command the back palate. Juicy, bitter, mouthwatering. Impeccable - combining depth with chiselled vitality and the grip of structured dry extract. Long, extract laden yet fine. Its final composition is 44% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay and 20% Meunier. Reserve wines from the House’s extensive library made up 42% of the final blend.

delivery information

GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

94/100

Antonio Galloni,

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. Krug ID: 120003. (Originally published in May 2021)

drinking window 2022 - 2042

date of review 11/2021

96+/100

William Kelley,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Based on the 2013 vintage and complemented by some 40% reserve wines dating back to 2000, Krug's newly released NV Grande Cuvee 169eme Edition 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 Cuvee by comparison with the richer, more textural and more demonstrative 168eme Edition (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

drinking window 2021 - 2050

date of review 09/2021

product details

Specifications

Country:

Region:

Appellation:

Producer:

style:

Grape Variety:

Chardonnay/Pinot Noir

abv:

12.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.