Krug Brut Champagne Grande Cuvée Edition 166 NV 1.5L

97 points Tyson Stelzer (Decanter): "45% Pinot Noir, 39% Chardonnay, 16% Meunier, blended from 140 wines dating from 1996 to 2010, including 42% reserves. Krug leads off where most other Champagne houses end, and its entry wine is every bit a prestige cuvée. It smells and tastes like no other wine, a monumental paradox of tense freshness, profound maturity and inimitable complexity. Decadently rich, extravagantly complex and thunderingly expansive, Grande Cuvée is a vinous Champagne of multifaceted personality, yet ever-heightened tension. For all it represents, spanning 25 years of production, it presents incredible value. Drinking Window: 2020-2030. (Jun 2020)"

97 points Anne Krebiehl, MW (Falstaff): "A beautiful note of raw, brown field mushroom is bathed in lemony brightness on the nose. The palate has a totally salty edge, like salted lemon, toasted black sesame seed, and a hint of miso. Again there is incisive freshness and a really fine mousse with incredible youthfulness, freshness and a lasting note of citric brightness. There is a savoury depth and a lovely rye bread note of autolysis and a beautifully fine mousse. The finish has real verve and incredible energy. (4/27/22)"

97 points Tyson Stelzer (The Champagne Guide): "(2010 base vintage; disgorged winter 2016-2017; 39% chardonnay, 45% pinot noir, 16% meunier; ID 117012; 42% reserves; 140 wines from 13 vintages back to 1996; aged 6 years on lees; cork). Grande Cuvée smells and tastes like no other wine, a monumental paradox of tense freshness, profound maturity and inimitable complexity. Its current 166ème Édition bears a full straw hue, embracing the full, marvellous expanse of the universe of Krug complexity. It opens with a fanfare into a maelstrom of molten wax, incense, truffles, pipe smoke, glacé apricot, preserved lemon, crème brûlée, even notes of mocha and charcuterie. Decadently rich, extravagantly complex and thunderingly expansive, Grande Cuvée is a vinous champagne of multifaceted personality, yet ever-heightened tension. Its structure is more dynamic and defined than ever, uniting the electric tension of no small retention of malic acidity with deep wells of scintillating, swirling, salty minerality, lacing everything together with the creamy, silky seamlessness of barrel fermentation and long lees age. It soars with spiralling expansion, then touches down gracefully, with unerring focus and breathtaking persistence. Every bit as enchanting and ethereal as its legendary reputation promises, this is a champagne to drink slowly from large glasses, to witness an entire universe of captivating theatrics unfold as it warms. Édition 166ème is a grand achievement as always, and more than ever in the challenging 2010 season, described by Eric Lebel as ‘tumultuous’. Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs consequently lacked its habitual freshness, and he responded with both the vivacity of the year’s meunier, and the structure of relatively young reserve wines, most notably from 2000. Oger was included for its generous roundness, and 2006 wines from Verzy and Bouzy for harmony. (2020-2021)"

96+ points Stephan Reinhardt (Wine Advocate): "Compared to Krug's 160th edition, the bright golden-yellow colored NV Grande Cuvée 166ème Édition (ID117010) is still a baby that shows the chalky and fruity features of a young white Burgundy intermixed with notes of Schwarzwälder Kirsch (dark cherries with black chocolate) and floral (ammonia) flavors on the pure, fresh and elegant yet intense and still yeasty brioche nose with its ripe apple aromas and refreshingly bright (lemon juice) overtones. Round, wide and very elegant yet also straight and tense on the palate, this 2010-dominated cuvée is very delicate, fresh and chalky but also dense and lush in its vinous texture. The finish is well-structured, fresh and persistent, indicating great complexity and vibrancy. However, I would wait at least another three years, during which time the 166th edition will gain even more finesse and quiet. The 166ème Édition is composed of 140 wines from 13 different harvests between 1998 and 2010, and it's a blend of 45% Pinot Noir with 39% Chardonnay and 16% Pinot Meunier, the latter of which provides the vivacity that the Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs surprisingly didn't have in 2010, a vintage that was marked by its "tumultuous climate," as Eric Lebel writes. Drink: 2022-2040. (Nov 2018)"

95 points Wine Spectator: "This mouthwatering Champagne feels like a swathe of raw silk on the palate, where flavors of sun-dried white cherry, toast and Meyer lemon peel are accented by expressive saffron, ground coffee and mandarin orange peel aromas. Long and racy on the honey-, spice- and smoke-laced finish. Disgorged winter 2017. Drink now through 2025. (11/15/18)"

95 points/'Cellar Selection,' Wine Enthusiast: "This is the latest incarnation of Grande Cuvée, now in its 166th edition. Toasty aromas signal an enticingly mature wine, rich with intense secondary flavors. It preserves the wonderful richness and the style of this producer. The wine is ready to drink now, but it will be also enjoyable for many more years. Alcohol 12%. (Dec 2018)"

95 points Richard Juhlin (The Champagne Club): "(45% Pinot Noir, 39% Pinot Meunier, 16% Chardonnay). 13 vintages from the base year 2010 down to the legendary 1996 from 140 vineyards have now reached us. It is certainly very early to comment categorically on the future prospects for this edition, but at the moment the wine is a bit shy and at the same time nicely polished where Chardonnay shines brightest today with a light roasting and fresh notes of citrus and Granny Smith apples. Store for a long time to get real push in the reverberation and to bring out Krug´'s unmistakable symphonic harmony in the chords. (Nov 2022)"

94 points Neal Martin (Vinous): "The sommelier team is led by the excellent Gareth Ferreira MS, ex-67 Pall Mall. Upon arrival, he kindly pours a glass of Krug Grand Cuvée 166ème Édition, based on the 2010 vintage and blended from 13 harvests from 1998 onwards. It is the perfect way to begin. The nose of vibrant citrus fruit, brioche and yellow flowers is slightly yeasty in style but beautifully defined. That yeastiness transfers across to a weighty but balanced palate, which offers depth and grip with a bit of viscosity, and richness reined in by acidity. A touch of orange zest and hazelnut emerges on the finish, along with sufficient salinity to urge you back for another sip. Drink: 2019-2038. (Jan 2019)"

94 points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "I had not drunk a bottle of the 166ème Édition, which hails from the base year of 2010, since back in the autumn of 2018, so I was very curious to see how it was evolving in the bottle over the three and a half years since I last tried the wine. The blend for this bottling was forty-five percent pinot noir, thirty-nine percent chardonnay and sixteen percent pinot meunier. The wine today is coming into its primetime window of peak drinkability, wafting from the glass in a refined mix of apple, pear, oven-warm bread, citrus zest, a complex base of limestone minerality, just a whisper of vanillin oak and a lovely topnote of dried flowers. On the palate the wine is pure, precise and full-bodied, with a zesty, wide open personality, lovely depth at the core, pinpoint bubbles, impeccable balance and a long, complex and vibrant finish. This is a beautiful time to be drinking the 166ème Édition, though it still clearly has decades of life ahead of it. 2022-2060. (Mar/Apr 2022)"

94 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous): "The MV Grande Cuvée 166ème, based on the 2010 vintage, offers good depth, but it also comes across as a bit angular and in need of time in bottle to soften. Certainly, next to the 2008 and 2009 editions, the 2010 is a touch rough around the edges. Even so, there is good freshness and verve to the bright citrus, mineral and floral flavors. Drink: 2018-2038. (Dec 2017)"

94 points James Suckling: "Complexity from the very outset with praline, honey, grilled-hazelnut and nougat aromas leading to a fresh background of peaches, lemons and grapefruit. Chardonnay leads on the nose for now. The palate has finesse, fleshy appeal and terrific focus. Long, powerful and seamless. A strong edition of Grande Cuvée. Drink or hold. (8/31/18)"