KRUG Grand Cuvee 173eme Edition Brut NV Bottle

Description

Krug Grande Cuvée is born from the dream of Joseph Krug to craft the very best champagne he could offer, every year, regardless of annual variations in climate. Each year, Maison Krug honours his vision with a new Édition of Krug Grande Cuvée: the most generous expression of Champagne.

Beyond the notion of vintage, Krug Grande Cuvée is always a blend of over 120 individual wines from more than 10 different years, expressing a fullness of flavours and aromas impossible to achieve with the wines of a single year.

Composed around the harvest of 2017, Krug Grande Cuvée 173ème Édition is a blend of 150 wines from 13 different years. The youngest is from the year 2017 and the oldest dates back to 2001. In all, reserve wines from the Maison’s extensive library make up 31% of the final blend, bringing the breadth and roundness so essential to each Édition of Krug Grande Cuvée. The final composition of this champagne is 44% Pinot Noir, 34% Chardonnay and 22% Meunier.

*****

THE WINE ADVOCATE 94 points
Reviewed by: Kristaps Karklins
Drink Date: 2025 - 2038

Krug’s recently unveiled NV Grande Cuvée 173ème Édition—accounting for approximately 80% of the house’s total production—performs well, particularly considering the challenges of the base vintage, 2017. That year saw considerable rot pressure in red varieties, making meticulous sorting essential; some lots deemed unfit for Krug’s standards were even diverted to distillation. The conceptual cornerstone of the Grande Cuvée is the use of the house’s vast library—drawing from some 500 options—to complement the base vintage and moderate the extremes of any given growing season. The 173ème Édition comprises 150 wines across 13 vintages, with the 2017 base making up 69% of the final assemblage. Disgorged in January 2024 with a dosage of 4.5 grams per liter, it opens with aromas of pear, golden apple, lemon curd and early white blossoms interlaced with a distant hint of nutmeg. On the palate, it is medium- to full-bodied, textural and charming, laden with tangy acidity and animated by a pillowy mousse, and it concludes with a long, saline finish. Compared with its immediate predecessor, the 173ème Édition is broader and more giving, while the 172ème Édition tauter and more incisive. As experienced Krug aficionados will recognize, the inclusion of reserve wines—which may have undergone malolactic fermentation—renders the Grande Cuvée more immediately approachable than the house’s vintage-dated Champagnes, offering a more generous drinking experience on release.