x
  • Country ranking ?

    1 107
  • Producer ranking ?

    105
  • 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

Time’s second revelation of Krug Vintage. A very limited number of bottles of each Krug Vintage are kept in ideal conditions at the House of Krug cellars. Tasted and appraised, they are waiting to blossom into a second life, a life that exalts time and reveals a new facet of this Champagne. Krug Vintage thus becomes Krug Collection. Time then takes on a new, hitherto unknown meaning.

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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

Truffles, Apricot, Mineral, Citrus, Toasty and Creamy

nose

Open, Refined, Complex and Fresh

recommend

Yes

taste

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

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 Edition 167

Krug Clos d'Ambonnay

Krug Clos du Mesnil

Krug Rosé

Krug Rosé 25ème Édition

Krug Vintage

Private Cuvée

Private Cuvée Extra Sec

Rosé - 18ème Édition

Rose 21st Edition

Rosé 22 Edition

Vintage

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