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  • Country ranking ?

    1 121
  • Producer ranking ?

    107
  • Decanting time

    10min
  • When to drink

    now to 2025
  • Food Pairing

    Salmon and avocado blinis

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

To the delight of Krug Lovers around the world, a very limited number of Krug Vintage bottles are kept in ideal conditions in the House’s cellars. They are tasted and appraised as they wait to blossom into a second life. The Cellar Master might then decide that some Krug Vintages reveal a new personality and become Krug Collection. Krug Collection is a tribute to time sublimation: maturity exposes hidden facets, depth and new flavours, while gaining structure and complexity. Krug Collection is always a wonderful discovery, a deeper story of the Krug Vintage.

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Vintage 1981

Champagne:  Challenging weather conditions left a small harvest and kept the producers in suspense up until the final moments. The final result was a good but very scarce vintage.

    The mild spring woke up the vines from their winter sleep early, and vegetal growth began early in the spring. Unfortunately, heavy night frosts came in April and damaged the young sprouts. The situation only got worse when in May hailstorms damaged the vineyards. After this, the weather stayed cold, and the vines did not flower until July. In general, Chardonnay succeeded better than the red varieties in the flowering phase. August and September brought belief back to the producers, when the weather turned hot and sunny. Grapes matured in record speed, and it was possible to do the harvest right before the late September rains. As a result of previous lean harvest years, producers confirmed the sufficiency of non-vintage blends, and a large part of this vintage’s wines ended up as blend wines.

Thankfully, some of the producers also produced vintage champagnes. The have generally proven to be balanced and even excellent. The wines still have posture, elegance and concentration, even though the wines do not improve further in the cellar. The best experiences this year have been produced by Krug, whose blend exceptionally is half Chardonnay. For friends of Pinot Noir, the best win

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Average Bottle Price

2015 2014 2010 2005
689€ +0.1% 688€ +6.8% 644€ +14.6% 562€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Latest Pro-tasting notes

15 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Medium, Gold and Bright

ending

Long, Lingering and Vibrant

flavors

Citrus, Truffles, Apricot, Mineral, Toasty and Creamy

nose

Open, Refined, Complex and Fresh

recommend

Yes

taste

High in Acidity, Low alcohol content, Concentrated, Balanced, Well-structured, Developing, Medium-bodied, Elegant, Fresh, Rich, Dry and Silky tannins

Verdict

nice but not special and Excellent

Written Notes

We started with a token 1981 Krug Collection, which was showing better than before, finally starting to shed some snakeskin and provide some meat and soup to its acidic and citric bones. It was still tangy and still too young, a veritable adolescent amongst the adults that would follow (94+M).
  • 94p

This is a wine of which Henri Krug, Olivier's father, has always been very proud – and as someone who married in 1981, I know how rare special wines from this vintage are. Disgorged seven to eight years ago. Lots of millerandage and a vintage that was very good for Chardonnay. Like 1998, more Chardonnay than Pinot Noir. Dense, orange peel on the nose. Very rich. Not as much finesse as the two Grandes Cuvées. Slight bruised-apple character now.

  • 95p

This Champagne is now part of the Krug Collection partly as in its second life, its flavours and aromas are so distinct and different. 

It truly tells an entirely new story with rare aromas of white truffle and sweet spices, ripe apples and candied citrus, followed by mellow flavours of apricot and honey.

On the mouth it is unctuous, generous, with remarkable volume and opulence, with an extremely long finish and a lasting impression of elegance and distinction.

Reminiscent of Krug 1981 as it was then however, its freshness and vivacity remain.

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Information

Origin

Reims, Champagne

Vintage Quality

Above Average

Value For Money

Good

Investment potential

Average

Fake factory

Be Cautious

Drinking temperature

7

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