Krug Grande Cuvée 163ème Édition is built around the 2007 harvest and blends 145 wines from 12 different years. With the three grapes in nearly equal parts, it is an unusually balanced Édition, and one with some age on it now.
About This Champagne
In 2007 the tasting pointed to several lesser-known plots with strong potential, while wines from Villers-Marmery, Trépail, Mareuil and Ambonnay did most of the work. Reserves make up 27% of the blend, the oldest from 1990. The composition is 37% Pinot Noir, 32% Chardonnay and 31% Meunier. The wine was first presented in 2015 after around seven years in the cellar. Gault & Millau gave it 19/20 in 2020.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Candied lemon, beeswax and menthol, with smoke, pastry and a salty, iodine note.
- Palate: Fresh, almost sharp at first, then generous and complex, with orange marmalade and toasted brioche.
- Finish: Saline and persistent, ending with a fine bitterness.
Serving & Food
Keep it between 9 and 12°C and pour into a tulip glass. With some bottle age it suits richer food: steamed crab, pan-fried foie gras, or a mature Gruyère.
How to Enjoy
Drinkers who enjoy Champagne with some maturity, and hosts wanting a flagship Krug for the table.
Product Details
Producer: Krug
Origin: Champagne, France
Cuvée: Grande Cuvée 163ème Édition
Composition: 145 wines from 12 different years
Base Harvest: 2007
Reserve Wines: 27%, oldest from 1990
Blend: 37% Pinot Noir, 32% Chardonnay, 31% Meunier
Volume: 750mL
Presentation: Gift box
About the Maison
For most of its history Grande Cuvée gave no outward clue to which blend was in the bottle. That changed in 2016, when Krug began printing an Édition number on the front label, starting with this 163ème. The number counts how many times the house has recreated Joseph Krug's blend since 1843, so this bottle holds the 163rd. Krug Rosé was numbered the same way.
The change mattered because Grande Cuvée keeps evolving in bottle. With a number on the label it became easy to set two Éditions side by side, or to put one away and know exactly which blend you are opening years later. Krug did just that with the 163ème, keeping back a small number of bottles and presenting them again, a decade on, as A Tribute to Time.