1996 Champagne Krug, Brut

The 1996 Vintage is magnificent. A towering, explosive Champagne, the 1996 delivers the house’s signature breadth in a full-bodied, structured Champagne with enough pure density and acidity to age well for decades. 

Warm, nutty and spiced overtones add nuance on the finish. The 1996 is just beginning to enter the early part of its mature stage, where it is sure to remain for several decades. Krug’s Vintage is one of the truly epic wines of the year.

ID 407001. Disgorged autumn 2007. 48% Pinot Noir, 31% Chardonnay, 21% Pinot Meunier from 17 villages. Known as ‘extreme and charismatic’. Contrary to people’s belief, 1996 was not an easy vintage: dealing with this extreme freshness is always challenging. Harvest took place between 20 September and 30 September.

Tasted blind. Deep orangey apricot colour with a sluggish bead. Fully mature nose with notes of dried apricots and nuts. Wholly enveloping pleasure on the nose! There is a hint of caramel and also something very exotic indeed. Something you wouldn’t find in any other champagne, surely. Dry, clean finish.

Light gold. Remarkably perfumed nose projects an exotic bouquet of deep, leesy yellow fruit, minerals, honeycomb, smoked meat and flowers, with Asian spices building expanding in the glass. Almost painfully concentrated, offering a surreal parade of orchard and pit fruits, smoked meat, toasted brioche and marrow braced by intensely salty, stunningly incisive minerality. Imagine a Frankenstein's monster of Chablis Le Clos and Clos Ste. Hune-but one with perfect balance, of course, you get an idea of what I found in my bottle. 

The energetic, stony character builds exponentially on the finish, which didn't well, well, finish. The best analogy I can come up with for this Champagne's intensity, focus, and clarity is liquefied barbed wire. It is utterly hallucinatory and one of the most impressive wines I've ever been fortunate enough to drink. At the risk of sounding completely out of touch with reality, this is a value.

This is a handsome yellow-gold colour with hints of bronze. Still fresh and vigorous yet with a ripe acidity. Wow, this is something else in the mouth! There is a lot going on - firm and tight one moment, then a panoply of sensuous flavours. Williams pears and glace à l'orange evolve into lemon and prunes. A splendid finale of great length and vigour demonstrates that this '96 still has years of life ahead of it.

Drink 2017 - 2030

It has been a while since we met, but the Krug 1996 is unequivocally a brilliant slice of champagne – the nose cut from some slab of limestone that must have plummeted into the Champagne countryside from outer space. 

The palate is rapier-like acidity, life-affirming mineralite and a focus and freshness that is nothing less than thrilling. Krug is one of life’s great pleasures, and this is one of their finest vintages.