Krug "Grande Cuvée" 174ème Édition Brut Champagne

The new edition of Grande Cuvée uses 64% of the 2018 vintage as the youngest wine, with 36% reserve wines dating back to 2009. As you'd expect from the prominence of the 2018 harvest, the most immediate impression is of an approachable, but not open-knit edition, finer and more clean-cut than the 173rd yet immediately enjoyable upon release. It is Pinot aromatics which lead, with pretty, sweet red fruits, red pear, baked apple and a gentle wave of honeyed reserve wine providing a sense of savoury depth. Then ultra-ripe Chardonnay concentration snaps into focus with zippy candied mandarin and pineapple flavours, bright but not too acid focused. There's more of a sense of airy sunniness than heat or weight, smooth-moussed and gliding rather than forceful or pent up. This is a fine, enjoyable Grande Cuvée release that will build in waxy, honeyed and nutty depth over the next decade. (TH)

Krug’s newly released NV Grande Cuvée 174ème Édition is built around the 2018 harvest, which represents roughly two-thirds of the blend, with the remainder coming from 10 different years dating back to 2001. Disgorged in early 2025 with a dosage of five grams per liter, the wine opens in the glass with aromas of orange peel, freshly baked bread and pear mingled with notes of aromatic bitters, followed by a medium- to full-bodied, pillowy and charming palate, with a generous, sweet core of fruit, tangy acids and a long, precise finish. If, in a word, the 2017-based 173ème Édition is concentrated and the 2013-based 169ème Édition trenchant, the 174ème Édition is slightly softer and simultaneously less tightly wound than either, though its full complexity has yet to emerge with additional time under cork. (KK)