Champagne Krug Grande Cuvee 375ML and two flutes
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Wine Gift Set Includes:
- Champagne Krug (375ML half-bottle):
Deep golden color and fine, vivacious bubbles, predicting fullness and elegance. Aromas of flowers in bloom, ripe and dried fruit, marzipan, gingerbread and citrus fruits. Flavors of hazelnut, nougat, barley sugar, jellied and citrus fruits, almonds, brioche and honey. - Two wine glasses
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This is all about balance and the integration of power and finesse, with finely honed acidity supporting flavors of quince paste, dried black cherry, spun honey and candied orange zest, while rich notes of roasted walnut, coffee liqueur and toasted cardamom resonate on the finish.
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Wine & Spirits
This is the best release of Grande Cuvee we've tasted in the last several years, a wine that lives up to its historical greatness with Burgundian richness and Champenoise complexity. It's layered, intense, almost tannic in its grip, bringing high notes of chamomile and allspice to leaven the resinous butterscotch and chalk cave depths. A heady and immense multivintage blend.
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Wine Enthusiast
With its minimum of six years' bottle aging, this is a beautifully integrated, mature wine. It has a wonderful toast character, layered over sliced pears and ripe acidity. With its complex poise between lightness and richness, this remains an intensely impressive wine.
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Connoisseurs' Guide
Non-vintaged though it may be, this wine has in the past shown as one of the older cuvees in our tastings, and so again does it do so here. This time, as one expects of Krug, the aged, toasty, minerally character is accompanied by bright, acid-braced, still evident fruit. One might quibble about a bit of chalkiness in the finish.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’