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97 points Wine Spectator
An aristocrat. Big-boned and intense, yet with finesse and complex flavors of coconut, whole-grain bread, ginger, citrus and honey. Waves of flavor saturate the palate and the long finish picks up a mineral and smoke note. Very harmonious from start to finish. Drink now through 2020. (BS) (11/2005)
95 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
At its finest, the 1990 Vintage is superb, revealing a slightly oxidized style, but a full-bodied, rustic, rich personality with the body of a red wine, but loads of character. (RP)
95 points Wine Enthusiast
A bit dark in color and lacking in bubbles, but when it comes to aromas and flavors it’s out of this world. Vanilla, cinnamon, almond and apple scents are ethereal and mature as can be, while the palate deals layered apple and spice in multiple layers. Runs a mile long but soft on the finish. Unique in style; not the least bit zesty. (MS)
Wine Description
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.
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.
Vintage 1990
Three excellent vintages in Champagne were 1988, 1989 and 1990. Initially, many considered 1990 the finest of the trio, but that mantle has since passed to 1988. Some of the 1990 champagnes have evolved more quickly than anticipated, and there can be variation among bottles and producers. Winter and early spring saw warm weather that resulted in an early bud-break, making vines susceptible to the spring frost which duly arrived in April. This led to some uneven ripening and differing levels of maturity owing to the second generation of grapes that appeared after the frost damage and thus ripened later. The summer was generally dry and warm, which produced big, powerful, concentrated and full-flavoured wines.
Recommended glass shape
Average Bottle Price
2014 | 2012 | 2010 | 2005 |
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348€ -14.9% | 409€ +5.7% | 387€ +90.6% | 203€ |