Krug Grande Cuvée 171st Edition

This is most recent bottling of this iconic Champagne. There is a touch of toast as well as enticing apple and citrus aromas. On the palate, this wine is rich, intense, poised between maturity and ripe white fruits. It is a beautifully balanced wine, ready to drink.

Krug's NV Grande Cuvée 170ème Édition is based on the 2014 vintage, complemented by some 45% reserve wines dating back to 1998, with the house drawing on, among many others, 2013 for structure and 2012 and 2003 for generosity. Opening in the glass with aromas of pastry cream, dried fruits, pear, warm spices, freshly baked bread and vanilla pod, it's medium to full-bodied, pillowy and fine-boned, with excellent concentration, racy acids and a precise, chiseled profile. But if the latter adjective could be applied to the 2013-base 169ème édition equally felicitously, the 2014-base 170ème is more giving and less tightly wound out of the gates and will offer more demonstrative drinking young.

A lovely, mouthwatering Champagne, with a vivid and finely detailed panoply of baked nectarine, lime blossom, ground coffee, mandarin orange peel, candied ginger and salted almond notes set in a lithe, limber frame. Seamlessly knit, with a sense of buoyant vitality, this has a harmonious, elegant frame for the richly expressive flavor range. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier. Disgorged winter 2020 to 2021. Drink now through 2027.

The NV Grande Cuvée 172ème Édition is a gracious, sublime Champagne. Light citrus notes, white flowers, spice, marzipan and chamomile inflections all run through this delicate, nuanced Grande Cuvée. The 172eme is a Champagne of understatement and class that is very much a reflection of the base year. Brisk acids pull it all together. The Grande Cuvée is often quite accessible on release, but this is an Edition I would cellar for at least another year or two. It's a fine effort from Krug. The 172ème Édition is a blend of 44% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 20% Meunier based on 2016 with reserve wines back to 1998. Disgorged: Winter 2022-2023. Krug ID: 123003.

The NV Champagne Grande Cuvée 172 was created around the 2016 harvest year, and they enriched it with 146 wines dating from 2016 back to 1998. It pours a medium straw/yellow hue and is very pretty on the nose, with floral aromas leading out of the gate, followed by notes of candied green apples, fresh linen, lime sorbet, redcurrants, delicate spice, and fresh almond. It's rounded and medium-bodied on the palate, with a refined, delicately chalky texture, even, mouthwatering saline, fresh lift, and a long, fresh finish. As it opens, it starts to show its deeper profile in the blend, with notes of toast and crushed stones. It's a lovely addition to the range that will have a wide drinking window and improve with time over the next 20 years. Give it 3-4 years in the cellar.