KRUG GRANDE CUVÉE 162ème ÉDITION — 3L Jeroboam

The House

Founded 1843 in Reims by Joseph Krug — a German from Mainz who'd been working at Jacquesson and walked away over a disagreement about how champagne should be made. Everyone else chased the best single year. Krug's idea was heretical: build the best possible champagne every year by blending across vintages and across plots. Grande Cuvée is that idea, recreated annually since 1845.

Owned by LVMH since 1999 (bought from Rémy Cointreau), with the Krug family still directing key decisions — Olivier Krug is the sixth generation and the house's voice.

Krug owns ~20 hectares (roughly 30% of its needs) in Ambonnay and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, with the balance from 70–100 long-contracted growers across about 250 individually-tracked plots.

The thing that actually makes Krug different: every plot is vinified separately, in small 205-litre oak casks. The wood is 200+ years old, and casks are "tanned" for 2–3 years with second and third pressings before they're ever trusted with Krug. Average cask age ~20 years, retired around 40. The oak is there for micro-oxygenation and texture, not flavor — you will not taste wood in the glass. Then all those separate wines get blended back together. It's the most labor-intensive way to make champagne that exists.

This Edition

The provenance detail that matters most: these jeroboams were released direct from Krug's own cellars in 2024— disgorged in 2014, then held by the house for a decade. 

Scores

96 Decanter · 95 James Suckling · 95 Wine Advocate · 94 Vinous · 93.5 CellarTracker (78 notes)

Jancis Robinson MW: "intense nose," notable minerality, "very dense."

Tasting Notes

Light gold, fine and vivacious bead. Nose of flowers, ripe and dried fruits, citrus, marzipan and gingerbread. Palate runs hazelnut, nougat, barley sugar, citrus, almond, brioche, honey.

With a 2006 base and twelve years post-disgorgement, this sits at the rich, toasty, honeyedend of the spectrum — not a lean, crisp aperitif champagne. The jeroboam format slows everything down, so it'll show younger and fresher than a 750 of the same edition would today. Drinking window: now through ~2030. It's in its prime right now, which is exactly what you want in a gift.

Food Pairings

Krug's own suggestions: aged cheeses, oysters, grilled shrimp, Indian and Moroccan dishes, carrot cake, tarte tatin.

Given how mature this one is — it handles richer food than people expect. Roast chicken with the skin on, mushroom risotto, aged comté or parmigiano, jamón ibérico, lobster with drawn butter. Fried chicken, unironically. The toast-and-nut register wants fat and umami to push against. Avoid raw acidity and anything sweet that isn't caramelized.