Krug "Grande Cuvée" 168ème Édition Brut Champagne

Professional Reviews

Staff Reviews

GW

Gary Westby

Gary Westby

K&L Buyer

I loved this wine from the moment I stuck my nose in the glass, and I find it the most extroverted release since the 165 Ème Édition. Cinnamon and I had it with two starters- jamon Iberico and pistachio paté. The way that the subtle white flower aromas are intertwined with warm baguette toast reminds me of the best wines of Avize. In the mouth, it is clean and bright at first blush, but layers of complexity lie just underneath with spicy, savory red cherry Pinot Noir character. With the pistachio paté, it also showed hints of tropical exoticism from the Meunier, while the Jamon brought out the firmer savoriness of the Pinot Noir. This is a wine that has a tremendous amount of hidden power, with only the finish showing obvious concentration at this point. The finish has everything I want in Krug: immense chalky drive and a review of the savory mid-palate that becomes almost Burgundian at the end.

AH

Aaron Hughes

Aaron Hughes

I recently had the good fortune to taste both the 168 and the 167 back to back and I have to say that I finally understand the hype. Krug has been spoken about in hushed and reverent tones for years and I've never had the opportunity to avail myself, and gosh I really have been missing out, haven't I? This highlights the blending art of the winemaker, with the goal being to create consistency and greatness every year from the tools that are given to them. The 168 is based on the highly lauded 2012 vintage and comes out of the gate swinging with a deep and intense nose with pretty floral edges. The palate is amazingly clean with a soft and voluptuous mousse-y mouthfeel and that mineral finish that we have come to crave from Champagne. Buy this and share it with someone you love.

Notes

William Kelley for Wine Advocate: "As readers will know, the concept behind Grande Cuvée is to draw on the maison's unrivaled library of reserve wines to complement the base yielded by each successive vintage, supplementing any deficiencies and tempering any excesses. Each 'Édition' of Grande Cuvée typically contains considerably more than 100 different wines and is the result of six months of intensive tasting by the Krug team. The aim, as Cellar Master Eric Lebel describes it, is not to produce the same wine each year, but to produce the best possible wine each year, so every rendition of Grande Cuvée is different—differences that are now highlighted by Krug's laudable decision to enumerate each successive release. A lengthier visit shortly after this issue goes to press will delve deeper into the secrets of the maison that many—the present writer included—would denominate as Champagne's greatest house, but for now, all the wines reviewed here evidently come warmly recommended, and they are striking testimony to Krug's remarkable consistency." (04/2019)