Reviews

Perfect Krug, or How great wines are crafted
Drinktime.ru, 31 May 2010

The world’s finest wines are like sports trophies.

They say, “This is the limit, this is the maximum result achieved for today”. But whereas a sportsman has to train hard for years in order to win a coveted medal, things are much easier with wine. Its customers are Caesars of easy victory: veni, vidi, vinci. Money is all that is needed to buy the result. The hard work, measured not even in years, but decades and centuries, has already been done by others. A vineyard has been planted, its great potential has been discovered, the reputation has been built, the wine has become a symbol of greatness, as well as a luxury item.

The formula of great wines in a simplified form is presented as a sum total of ideal conditions on a perfect vineyard, supported by most delicate winemaking. Wine commentators will also mention cultural aspect. Here’s a summary by Hugh Johnson to illustrate the matter, “A great wine is a work of art, capable of giving aesthetic pleasure of the highest order[...]”. But how many consumers out there, who can afford to buy best Bordeaux and Burgundy Grands Crus, really appreciate the wines or the reality behind them?

There is famous Champagne House called Krug. Yet to say that it is famous is to say nothing. It is a legend, the Mount Olympus, the sacred shrine of Champagne winemaking. “Krug starts where Champagne stops” is, without false modesty, the motto of the House. It can also be taken literally. Non-vintage Krug Grand Cuvee, the foundation of the qualitative hierarchy, may cost as much as top Champagne by other producers.

Some people buy Krug for prestige; wine connoisseurs also understand its unique style — an unmatched combination of rich complexity and crystal purity known as a classical Krug paradox.

This is the only Champagne House to use barrels during the fermentation process. Others ferment their musts in stainless steel tanks. Instead of large steel vats, Krug employs 5 000 barrels which in fact are needed only for 3-4 months a year to convert fresh grape juice into base wine. It is commonly thought that barrels are accountable for the unique Krug style, but this is only partially true. Nobody says that Rolls-Royce is a car legend only thanks to its perfect engine.

The history of the House started in 1843 with Johann-Joseph Krug, German by origin, who left a comfortable position at another Champagne producer to make wine according to his ideals of quality. The spirit of perfectionism seems to be a distinctive feature of the winemaking dynasty. Olivier Krug, the House director and the sixth generation of the family, explains that things which they do at Krug can be mistakenly taken for granted. The seeming simplicity which other Champagne producers have failed to understand and embrace is the most remarkable side of the House that has made it a distinctive phenomenon in Champagne.

Unlike with still wines, Champagne is all about the consistency of style. This is why it is usually non-vintage, being blended from various harvests. A winemaker in Champagne usually works in a reverse direction: he takes the House signature style as a benchmark and has to reproduce it year in, year out. It’s like putting together a complex mosaic, but using new pieces every time.

At Krug these pieces are broken into smallest possible. The basic ingredient is grapes which come from own plots and from independent winegrowers through contracts. In large Champagne Houses base wines for non-vintage labels would be averagely anonymous (this is diplomatically kept in silence), because harvest from various plots is mixed in vats. Krug vinifies them in barrels a la parcelle, that is separately for each plot. But before that farmers will have chosen their best vineyard blocks for Krug and will have picked grapes at a precise point, not earlier or later, and will have compared base wines in a blind tasting in order to be proud of what they are doing and to understand how to further improve the quality of grapes.

Plots — harvest — phases of pressing — fermentation in barrels — this is the first chain, broken into tiny links, from which the style of Krug begins.

Non-vintage Champagne is a blend of wines of current and previous vintages. Still wines of older vintages, used for assembling future non-vintage Champagne, are called reserve. Some Houses claim that their non-vintage Champagne will be made with up to 50% of reserve wines, but they will most probably be from previous 2-3 harvests. Krug Grand Cuvee contains around a third of reserve wines which are kept untouched in the cellars for up to 15 years. Today the oldest reserve wine is dated 1995. It means that when Krug Grand Cuvee is ready for release (after the second fermentation in the bottle and further aging of minimum 6 years), it may contain 15-20-year-old wines. In other words, a winemaker may spend half of his career to prepare a wine that will be part of a finished product 20 years later. Krug Grand Cuvee, or the very mosaic, is routinely blended from 200-250 wines. This figure is almost improbable in Champagne production, let alone in still wines.

Old reserve wines — complex blending recipe — very long aging — this is the second phase of the process which shapes the style of Krug.

The House crafts other, more rare and expensive Champagne, but Krug Grand Cuvee is its flagship label that sets the style for others — Rose, Vintage, Collection, Clos du Mesnil and Clos d’Ambonnay. And do you know what Krug is doing now? It offers Grand Cuvee last, after vintage and mono-cru Champagne. While Clos du Mesnil and Clos d’Ambonnay demonstrate the grandeur of specific vineyards and varieties, Grand Cuvee is a genuine trophy showing the real genius of Krug.