2002 Krug "Clos du Mesnil" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne (direct from Krug 2018)

This is a wine with staggering length and immense purity. It's as powerful as chardonnay can be, showcasing an incredible depth of pure fresh lemons, yellow grapefruit, honey and dried white and yellow flowers. The concentration and complexity of primary fruits are outstanding, and there are some more exotic flavors here too in the peach and green-mango spectrum. The texture is ultra-fine and creamy through the mid-palate, its majestic curves sweeping long around a sturdy mineral core. This is very silky and focused, offering gently creamy moments before twisting towards a composed, restricted and compressed chalk-like finish. It delivers an impression of chardonnay that captures incredible richness, fleshiness, persistence and power. Yet the acidity is staggering while being simultaneously perfectly balanced. Drink now but this will have a lot more to come after 2020. (10/2016)

A lovely, lacy Champagne, with ripe apricot, fennel seed and espresso aromas. This caresses the palate with a finely detailed mousse and expansive flavors of pineapple pâte de fruit, toasted brioche, fleur de sel and grated ginger. Long and chalky on the finish, this is a prima ballerina, showing power cloaked in grace. Disgorged winter 2015. Drink now through 2032. (AN) (11/2016)

The 2002 Clos du Mesnil is wonderfully pliant and expressive in the glass. The radiant personality of the year comes through in the wine's ripe, tropically-leaning flavors and open-knit personality. I imagine the 2002 will develop at a relatively fast pace by Clos du Mesnil standards. Even so, there is more than enough freshness underpinning the fruit to support at least two decades of very fine drinking. (AG) (7/2017)

Krug is an icon in Champagne, and their single-vineyard Clos du Mesnil is only produced in the very best years. This walled-in parcel of land in Mesnil-sur-Oger is a very small 1.85 acres in the heart of the village. The original wall was built in 1698, the same year the vineyard was planted. Tasting notes from the producer: "At first sight, a bright and luminous golden color of ripe wheat. On the nose, aromas of citrus fruits, white pepper and spices, slightly grilled nuts and brioche. On the palate, it is precise, pure and fresh with tension, vivacity, and great balance. Notes of peach, orange, citrus fruit, and licorice are all enhanced by a very long finish. The year 2002 offered a clement and generous climate, consistently warm, relatively dry, granting ideal conditions for grape maturation. The rare beauty and singularity of the year’s grapes are conveyed by the generosity and aromas inherited from the clement circumstances of 2002, making this year an exceptional one. The House of Krug chose to create Krug Clos du Mesnil 2002 because, the year 2002, marked by the generosity of the yields, succeeded in offering ideal conditions for the maturation of beautiful grapes, with the promise of revealing the full potential of this walled plot."