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  • Country ranking ?

    711
  • Producer ranking ?

    63
  • Decanting time

    No
  • When to drink

    Now
  • Food Pairing

    Seafood, Salads & Consommes

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The end of the war commerce in champagne was in a critical situation. If it had kept up the soldiers' morale during the war then it now needed to do the same for the inhabitants of Champagne. It was true that, on the 10 May 1947, at the spring meeting of the A.V.C., René Chayoux, president of the merchants, was able to say, with the approval of Henri Macquart, the president of the vine growers: At the end of a period of terrible torment, the situation in Champagne is relatively fortunate. Our vineyards have not suffered as much as we might have feared. A sensible policy of restriction of prices and quantities sold has both maintained substantial levels of stock and Champagne's reputation from the point of view of price and quality. But in 1945, in the vineyards, many men had not come back, average yields had fallen to 32 hectolitres per hectare, a great deal of work which had been postponed for five years now had to carried out with some urgency if the prosperity of before the war was to be recovered. As for the merchants they, too, had a lot to do in order to restore and develop their businesses.

However, little by little the after-effects of the war disappeared. 1954 marked the beginning of an extraordinary phase of expansion for champagne both in terms of its means of production and its sales.

As time passed sales in France and exports to various countries grew rapidly.

Several remarks may be made concerning this dramatic evolution. Between the end of the hostilities and 1953 sales remained more or less at the level in 1938, i.e. around thirty million bottles annually, with a peak of thirty-five million in 1951. People restocked their cellars after the war but the stocks of the producers had not yet returned to their correct levels and the economic climate was hesitant. From 1954 the professions were able to evolve in a climate of healthy cooperation due to the creation of an interprofessional body, the spirit of competition seized the producers, merchants, growers who sold their own champagne, and the cooperatives; their combined efforts would, in a quarter of a century, multiply sales of champagne by six, which is considerable for a product with a relatively high price that, while it was certainly desirable and pleasant, was not a prime necessity.

Between 1910 and 1940 there was a stagnation in the level of sales, which hovered around 30 and 40 million bottles, with considerable and frequent peaks and troughs. The opposite was true in this period of expansion, of which the steadiness was remarkable. There were, however, four hiccups, which occurred for accidental reasons. The first in 1958-1959 was caused by a poor harvest due to frosts in 1957. The second, in 1968, resulted from the introduction of value added tax (VAT)42 and political and industrial problems. The 1970s began with a euphoric period of growth in sales, of the order of 10% per year, but then a third interruption occurred in 1974 as a result of the recession that was triggered by the fuel crisis. From 1973 to 1975 the British and Italian markets fell, in terms of bottles sold per year, from 10 million to 3 million and from 9.8 million to 2.8 million respectively. The French market fell by 6% in 1974 but quickly resumed its growth in 1975.

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The Story

Unique to the House of Krug, every Krug Vintage is crafted to be different, to reveal the expression of a particular year. A year with character, a year with a special story to tell in a way that Krug alone can relate. To narrate this story, Krug has blended very expressive wines from a single year, enhanced by a stay of over ten years in the cellars. Krug Vintage is the story of a year as seen by Krug; there are as many stories as there are Krug Vintages.

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Wine Information

For many people, there are champagnes and then there is Krug; that is how legendary this house is. Established in 1843 by Johann-Joseph Krug, the house has for six generations admirably stuck to its quality principles, to its generous burnt style and to its fabulous ageing potential. After the retirement of the fifth-generation brothers Henri and Rémi Krug, the house has been looking for its place within the LVMH Group. After two years at the company’s helm, Margareth Henriquez has found a direction and new winds are blowing through Krug, in the form of a more open-minded outlook. An excellent example is the idea implemented by Henriquez of equipping bottles with an easy-to-read ID that indicates the wine’s age and corking date.
The winemaking team, led by sixth-generation family representative Olivier Krug, is youthful. Cellar master Eric Lebel believes that a wine is always better made by a team than by an individual, therefore both Henri and Rémi Krug are still involved in the blending.
Krug vinifies each batch of grapes separately in small oak barrels. Annually the house produces 200-250 different wines, which is a huge quantity compared to its size. This gives the winemakers an enviable palette to work from when considering the final blends. Krug’s treasures include extensive stocks of earlier reserve wines, some of them 15 years old.
In contrast with other houses, Krug begins its series with the luxury blend. Rémi Krug would always bristle if someone mistakenly called the Krug Grande Cuvée non-vintage: “Krug is not non-anything! The Grand Cuvée is multi-vintage, a blend of fine wines from several years.” Other cuvées are like “pinpoints in the Krug universe”. The single-vineyard wines, the 100 per cent Chardonnay Clos du Mesnil and the 100 per cent Pinot Noir Clos d’Ambonnay, provide a key to understanding Krug. After Henri and Rémi Krug first produced the Clos du Mesnil vineyard champagne in 1979, they began searching for a counterpart. After nearly twenty-five years they found it in Clos d’Ambonnay, and its first vintage, 1995, was launched in 2007.
Vintage Krugs are classics that leave room for the special characteristics of each year. The Collection series gives old vintages, stored in perfect conditions, a new life in the hands of collectors. Launched in late 2010, the fabulously honeyed 1989 is now at a perfect age for enjoyment. Krug resisted producing rosés for a long time, but the Krug Rosé NV, produced since the mid-1980s, is an enchanting addition to the Krug series with its vinous baked quality.

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Tasting note

color

Full

ending

Long and Lingering

flavors

Toasty, Honey, Creamy and Nutty

nose

Intense, Pure and Generous

recommend

Yes

taste

Perfectly balanced, Well-structured and Complex

Written Notes

This legendary wine was a huge disappointment for me. Good structure and nice acidity. Refreshing but charmless and pointless.

  • 90p
Since the next wine was a 1945 Krug. Sir Robert found it ‘wine-y,’ and while mild, it was sexily good. The Punisher admired its ‘great freshness.’ The palate was long and pretty with flavors of wheat, cream and oat. This was a beautiful bubbly, perhaps a touch delicate by the usual Krug standards, but in true Krug fashion, it still worked (95).
  • 95p
A superb bottle with perfect label and capsule. Level was as good as ever. Decanted 20 minutes. This is a great ‘victory’ champagne that can and should be spoken of only in terms of superlatives. It has a healthy, deep golden colour. On the nose flavours and aromas exploded wide open right after decanting - lots of generous citrus, nuts and honeyed toasty aromas, all coming together in an almost cream-like texture. It still has some tiny bubbles left. This full-bodied and commanding wine has almost perfect balance and heavy, multi-layered structure. At the end all those grand flavours and aromas lingered for an extremely long time. Krug 1945 is superb now and will hold comfortably few more years.
  • 96p
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Information

Origin

Reims, Champagne

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Value For Money

Very good

Investment potential

Good

Fake factory

Serious

Other wines from this producer

Blanc de Blancs

Clos du Mesnil Vinothèque

Grande Cuvée

Grande Cuvée 160ème Édition

Grande Cuvee 161st edition

Grande Cuvée 162ème Édition

Grande Cuvee 163th edition

Grande Cuvee 164th edition

Grande Cuvée - 165ème Édition

Grande Cuvée -166ème Édition

Grande Cuvée 167ème Edition

Grande Cuvée 168éme edition

Grande Cuvee 169th Edition

Grande Cuvée 170ème Édition

Grande Cuvée 171ÉME Edition

Grande Cuvée Edition 167

Krug Clos d'Ambonnay

Krug Clos du Mesnil

Krug Collection

Krug Rosé

Krug Rosé 25ème Édition

Private Cuvée

Private Cuvée Extra Sec

Rosé - 18ème Édition

Rose 21st Edition

Rosé 22 Edition

Rosé 27ème Édition

Vintage

Inside Information

From 1945 planting initiatives had been included in the general restocking program, which was carried out with a view to bringing the grape varieties used and planting practices in line with the new rules, thereby rationalizing the cultivation process, improving quality and quantity and ultimately resulting in a reduction of production costs. The A.V.C. encouraged and coordinated this second restocking, as it had done during the restocking following the abandonment of the vignes en foule ("vines in crowds") technique. Taking a degree of initiative that was unprecedented in France, the A.V.C. set up Commissions de Reconstitution and encouraged the vine growers through subsidies and various other incentives, such as discounts on vines that were recognized as being appropriately selected. There was also a drive to tidy up and restore vineyards and to encourage exchanges and consolidation of properties.

The Aube on account of the grape varieties particular to the region, undertook a more intensive restocking program, with the aim of bringing its vineyards in line with those of the Marne and the Aisne. This was successfully carried out from 1945 under the vigorous direction of Georges Lucot, the representative of the Aube vineyards within the Syndicat Général des Vignerons de la Champagne Délimitée, with the efficient help of Monsieur Dechambre, the director of the county's Agricultural Services, and then of Monsieur Maury, the Aube representative within the C.I.V.C. (Vignerons et Maisons de Champagne), which provided grants to help support these initiatives. In 1951 there were still only 250 hectares of restocked vines against 1,250 hectares of old vines, but the transformation was accomplished by the seventies, much to the benefit of the vine growers of the Aube and the harmony of wine producing Champagne.

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