Krug

At A Glance

Krug is a Champagne producer based in Reims, founded by Joseph Krug in 1843. Grande Cuvée is the house's defining wine: a non-vintage blend of more than 120 wines from ten or more vintages, shaped by reserve wines and long cellar ageing. The range extends from that broad blend to vintage, rosé and single-vineyard releases.

The Producer

Krug began in 1843 and still operates from 5 rue Coquebert in Reims, the address it moved to in 1866. Its modern range is built around Grande Cuvée, where wines from different years are combined to create a bottle with layers of fruit, spice and toast instead of the character of one harvest alone.

The estate owns 21 hectares of vineyard land, yet the house style depends on a much wider library of wines. Grande Cuvée can include reserve wines from five to nine years, sometimes making up 50 percent of the blend. The cellar therefore works as a long-term blending system, with age and selection shaping the final Champagne.

Place

Reims places Krug in the historic centre of Champagne production, while 5 rue Coquebert gives the house a fixed address within the city. The wine itself reaches beyond one local parcel: Grande Cuvée draws on more than 120 wines from ten or more different years. Reims is the home of the house, while the bottle expresses a deliberately wide view of Champagne's grapes and harvests.

Soil And Site

The most specific vineyard in the range is Clos du Mesnil, a single walled vineyard of 1.85 hectares in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. It is a focused site wine made from Chardonnay, set apart from Grande Cuvée's many-wine blend. Its floral, lemon verbena, candied fruit, mineral and smoke notes give the vineyard a narrower, more concentrated voice in the Krug range.

Story

Joseph Krug founded the house in 1843. Twenty-three years later, Krug moved to 5 rue Coquebert in Reims, where it still operates. The address turned a young house into a fixed place, while Grande Cuvée developed as a wine assembled across vintages rather than tied to one year's conditions.

In January 1999, LVMH acquired Krug, adding a new owner to the house's history. The wines now sit within a range that includes Grande Cuvée, Krug Rosé, Krug Millésime, Clos du Mesnil, Clos d'Ambonnay and Collection releases. The timeline changes, but the clearest thread remains the work of combining wines and allowing time in the cellar.

Vineyards And Cellar

Krug owns 21 hectares of vineyard estate, with the range also reaching named sites such as Clos du Mesnil. The cellar provides the larger frame. Reserve wines aged for five to nine years can account for up to half of a blend, bringing older wine into the composition alongside younger base wines.

A bottle of Grande Cuvée takes about twenty years to create, including at least six years resting in the Krug cellars. That long interval allows the blend to move from deep golden colour and fine bubbles toward the baked, nutty and honeyed flavours associated with extended ageing. Time here is part of the wine's making, not merely a storage detail.

Wines

Grande Cuvée is the broadest expression of the house's range architecture. It combines Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier, with one listed composition of 45 percent Pinot Noir, 37 percent Chardonnay and 18 percent Meunier applying to a particular edition rather than every release. Its blend of more than 120 wines from ten or more years creates a wine built from many components, with spice, fruit and toast woven through the cuvée.

Krug Rosé, Krug Millésime and Collection releases occupy distinct places in the range, while Clos du Mesnil and Clos d'Ambonnay turn the focus toward single-vineyard wines. Clos du Mesnil comes from one 1.85 hectare walled vineyard in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger and shows floral, lemon verbena, candied fruit, mineral and smoky notes. Grande Cuvée is expansive by design; Clos du Mesnil is concentrated around one site.

In The Glass

Grande Cuvée pours deep gold, with fine, lively bubbles. The first aromas move from flowers in bloom to ripe and dried fruit, then toward marzipan, gingerbread and citrus. Those notes reflect a wine assembled from multiple vintages and held for years in the cellar, where fruit gains dried, spiced and pastry-like dimensions.

On the palate, hazelnut, nougat, barley sugar, jellied fruit, citrus, almonds, brioche and honey arrive in layers. The bubbles carry those flavours across the mouth, while citrus keeps the finish lifted after the richer notes have passed. Clos du Mesnil follows a different line: floral perfume and lemon verbena lead into candied fruit, then narrow toward mineral and smoke.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Grande Cuvée. It is the bottle in which Krug's main choices can be tasted together: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier assembled from more than 120 wines, reserve wines reaching five to nine years of age, and at least six years in the cellar before release. In the glass, it is deep gold with fine, vivacious bubbles, opening through flowers, citrus, dried fruit, marzipan and gingerbread before moving into hazelnut, nougat, brioche and honey. The long finish of citrus and pastry gives the blend a clear sense of age without losing its Champagne lift.

Anecdote

In 1866, Krug moved to 5 rue Coquebert in Reims. Joseph Krug had founded the house in 1843, and the new premises gave the young producer a permanent address in the city. The move was not the end of the story: Krug still operates from 5 rue Coquebert today. A date, a street and a change of premises connect the founding generation with the house that now makes Grande Cuvée from wines drawn across ten or more vintages. The address remains the physical marker of that continuity.

Final Word

Krug's range moves between two scales. Grande Cuvée gathers more than 120 wines and years of reserve material into one bottle, while Clos du Mesnil reduces the view to a single 1.85 hectare walled vineyard in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Together they show how the house uses both breadth and site focus to shape Champagne.

At A Glance

The Producer

Place

Soil And Site

Story

Vineyards And Cellar

Wines

In The Glass

A Bottle To Understand It

Anecdote

Final Word

Sources

Where to go next