Tasting Notes
Vinous 97+
Full copper-gold color. Initially restrained, brooding nose exploded with aeration, showing apple, orange, apricot, honey, iodine, smoke, hazelnut, macadamia and a suggestion of dry oloroso sherry. Dense, full, chewy and rich; an extraordinarily solid Champagne with an intriguing suggestion of Calvados. Broadens toward the back and goes on and on on the echoing aftertaste, with rich, mellow notes of toffee, brown butter and marrow. Like the ’92 Clos du Mesnil, this displays its powerful underlying acidity with aeration (Krug’s wines never go through malolactic fermentation) and should be long-lived. (Clicquot Inc., New York NY
Robert Parker 95
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. I cannot recommend the 1989 Vintage as three bottles tasted were all oxidized, possibly from bad storage, but who knows? Importer: Moet-Hennessy, USA, New York, NY; tel. (212) 251-8200.
The Champagne Club 96
I don’t know for how many years I’ve been waiting to tast this wine all has mentioned. Only now at the age of fourteen does Krug feel that the wine is ready to meet its audience. You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that the vintage and the character of the house would marry perfectly. The wine is already monumental with a style that lies between the acidic classic 88′ and the generously honey-tasting 89′. The acidity is certainly high, but the fruit is so rich that the acidity is embedded beautifully. Here are warm roasted, yes almost burnt and smoked aromas along with notes of orchids, vanilla and dried fruit that bring the thoughts of older Krug from warm years. It will probably take 7-8 years for the wine to be at its peak, but by December 2007 greatness and generosity had emerged. But last bottle in 2023 little less refined.
