Krug

Who are they? Krug is a small but important champagne house standing at the top of Champagne pyramid. Krug does not make ordinary Vintage champagne but it is specialised in prestige cuvees. It is the only house to persist in

Reims, Krug Grande Cuvée: a blend of more than 120 wines from ten or more different years. Aged for at least another six years in the cellars. Over twenty years are needed to craft each bottle Krug Rosé  are

at least 10 years in cellar. Krug Clos du Mesnil is

Founded in 1843 by german Johann Krug with the help of his friend Hippolyte de Vivès, with the aim of creating Champagne every year regardless of variations in climate as Krug belief that the variables of weather and soils of Champagne worked against the wines͛ consistency. He would build a reserve of wines, each made of grapes from a separate plot of land with its own specific character and blend it. That is how Champagne No.1. Krug Grande Cuvée was born. Krug Grand Cuvée to be the

Krug Vintage. Krug Clos du Mesnil 1979. One plot, one grape variety, one year. Thus was born the purest expression of Chardonnay. In 1983 Krug Ros͛e was launched based on Pinot Noir grapes as a result of Krug͛s sons experiment. Purchased by the House in 1994, Clos d͛Ambonnay the plot produced a harvest worthy of its own vintage just one year later. The extremely rare Krug 1995, finally revealed in

Krug would be first in creating only prestige Champagnes every year, a still unique and defining trait of Krug to this day. It is blended each year from scratch  using the best grapes available from hundreds of individual plots. Krug intentionally diverges from standard practices in the Champagne region by using small, custom-made 205-liter oak casks (from 200-year-old trees)—͞to respect the individuality and character of each single plot͟
Krug is also unusual in that it owns a higher percentage of its vineyards than most houses, with the rest of their grapes coming from many growers under long-term contract. One of Henriquez͛s very modern innovations, as of 2011, was to have all Krug bottles include a KRUG ID number on the back label, indicating the quarter and year in which the bottle left Krug͛s cellars, so that buyers can quite easily find out, on Krug͛s website, whatever they͛d like about their specific bottle. How is their business run? Krug is not a volume producer. Japan is by far Krug͛s number one market The UK, France, Nordic countries, Australia and Hong Kong are also strong markets for Krug, helped along by other marketing strategies incorporating ͞Krug rooms͟ in various restaurants and ͞Krug ambassadors.͟But the biggest selling-point today is Olivier Krug himself Market share/volume Future plans or vision͚In addition to extending ageing on lees, I am also working on lengthening the post-disgorgement ageing. For Grande Cuvée we are now at eight months, but I wish to achieve a year,͛Krug͛s chef de cave Eric Lebel has said he is fully in favour of writing the flute out of Champagne drinking history, and he hinted that the house may launch a new glass for its rosé. Bibliography Mariani, Jonh (2017);