Krug Brut Champagne Grande Cuvée Edition 168 NV 1.5L

Non-Vintage Sparkling Wine from Montagne de Reims, Champagne, France
F 98
EA 96-98
JD 97
JS 97
JG 96
WA 96
12.0% ABV
Item # 345435

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$595.00

Out of stock

1.5L
Out of Stock
 
98 points Peter Moser (Falstaff): "Light golden yellow, silver reflections; very fine, persistent mousse. Multi-faceted bouquet of yellow stone fruit, brioche, candied orange zest, blossom honey and almond cake, floral nuances in the background. Substantial on the palate, silky, pronounced in fruit texture, fine hazelnut nuances, light chocolate, finesse, rich acidity, very elegant and well-balanced; on the finish accents of oranges and nougat, mineral-salty touch on the back palate with echoes of fine honey. A versatile food wine with great development potential. (11/19/20)"

96-98 points Essi Avellan, MW: "A blend of 52% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 13% Meunier, it took 198 different wines from 11 years to craft Joseph Krug’s dream wine, ‘the fullest expression of Champagne in one glass’. Chef de cave Julie remembers following the great 1996 Verzenay reserve wine in the tanks since the onset of her Krug career in 2006, and she says she felt emotional when the time came to include it in the 2012 blend as its oldest component among the 42% of reserve wines. She feels that some of the wine’s beeswax richness originates from that special wine. My first taste was from bottle with Krug ID 219012 (so disgorged in the spring of 2019). Refined yet expressive nose with richness of ripe stone fruits, candied lemon, baked apple and ginger reaching the nose first, followed by a gentle spiciness for fresh oak wood. Time in the glass brings forward layers of charismatic and complex brioche, yeast and honeycomb tones. On the palate it is even surprisingly tight and focused, with its brisk, saline acidity lining the fine, ripe and pure fruitiness. Less approachable upon launch than some editions, but it’s every drop just oozes ageing capacity. A keeper. 1,5 years after initial tasting of the same disgorgement, the wine was showing ever more glorious, opening up more and showing further complexities but keeping its initial tension and drive. (Dec 2021)"

97 points Jeb Dunnuck: "A beautiful Champagne, yet one that needs bottle age, the NV Grand Cuvee 168ème Edition comes mostly from the 2012 vintage (a good vintage) and has gorgeous apple blossom and stone fruits intermixed with classic Krug toasted brioche, toasted almond, white flowers, and honeysuckle aromatics. Just gorgeous on the palate as well, it's concentrated and has a rich, backward texture, bright acidity, and great finish. It takes lots of air to show at its best today, but do your best to hide bottles for 3-4 years. You'll be rewarded and it will evolve gracefully for another two decades or more. (Drink between 2024-2045. (Mar 2021)"

97 points James Suckling: "Quite rich aromas of cooked apples, peaches, pie crust and biscuit. Some dried pineapple. Full bodied with layers of fruit and a really lively backbone of acidity and energy. Really zippy and energetic at the end. A beauty. Based on the 2012 harvest, but 13 different years in the blend. Drink now. (10/18/20)"

96+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "The new release of Krug Grande Cuvée '168ème Édition' is from the base year of 2012, with the reserve wines in the blend stretching all the way back to 1996. The final cépages has ended up as fifty-two percent pinot noir, thirty-five percent chardonnay and thirteen percent pinot meunier. Forty-two percent of the blend is made up of reserve wines in this beautiful iteration of Grande Cuvée. The bouquet is superb, wafting from the glass in a mosaic of apple, white peach, a touch of Clos du Mesnil-like fresh apricot, almond, a beautifully complex base of soil tones, fresh-baked bread, hints of the caraway seed to come and a whisper of buttery oak (which is particularly evident when the wine is first poured, but quickly is subsumed in the other elements on the nose). On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and very complex, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature, utterly refined mousse and a long, perfectly balanced and very energetic finish. This is one of the most effortless and seamlessly balanced young releases of Grande Cuvée in several years and is utterly brilliant wine. 2020-2080. (Nov/Dec 2020)"

96 points William Kelley (Wine Advocate): "Krug's NV Grande Cuvée 168ème Édition is a classic in the making, wafting from the glass with aromas of dried fruits, pear, toasted nuts, orange zest, honeycomb and freshly baked bread. Medium to full-bodied, generous but incisive, it's deep and elegantly fleshy, with a beautifully refined mousse and an enveloping core of fruit that's complemented by the characteristic Krug patina of nutty complexity imparted by barrel fermentation. Even if this is more open out of the gates than the 2011-based 167ème edition, the 168ème edition is also the more concentrated and intense of the two. It's based on the 2012 harvest, complemented by fully 42% reserve wines—a blend of 198 wines from 11 different vintages dating back to 1996. Drink: 2020-2040. (May 2020)"

96 points Simon Field, MW (Decanter): "52% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 13% Pinot Meunier. A gentle gold with discreet yet persistent mousse and aromatics of spring meadows, lemon sherbet and barley sugar; the wine is pure and softly powerful, youthful energy finely poised, somewhat cautious after so many years in the chalky cellars. The reserve wines, Pinot Noir from Verzenay and Chardonnay from Avize especially, are subtle in support, vivacious despite their relative maturity, contributing to an ensemble which is hitherto dominated by red fruit, courtesy of the superb Pinot Noir, and a colourful tension. Behind that there are whispers of honey, quince and posset… and with so much more to come; but the finish, happily in these days of privation, takes one to wherever one may wish to go. Drinking Window: 2020-2037. (May 2020)"

96 points Wine Enthusiast: "In line with the producer's practice of numbering each bottling of its flagship Grande Cuvée, this is the latest release. Following the house style, there is some marvelously impressive Pinot Noir in this rich, full blend. That gives the Champagne its luxurious feel, contrasting with the tension from the dryness and minerality. This bottling, which shows maturity, is ready to drink. Alcohol 12.5%. (Dec 2020)"

95 points Wine Spectator: "A seamless Champagne, effortlessly integrating a powerful spine of racy acidity with the detailed range of crème de cassis, raw almond, toasted saffron and candied ginger flavors. This is fine and silky in texture, with a tang of salty mineral and rich hints of coffee, toasted brioche and mandarin orange peel expanding on the finish. Disgorged winter 2018. Drink now through 2030. (12/15/20)"
98 points Peter Moser (Falstaff): "Light golden yellow, silver reflections; very fine, persistent mousse. Multi-faceted bouquet of yellow stone fruit, brioche, candied orange zest, blossom honey and almond cake, floral nuances in the background. Substantial on the palate, silky, pronounced in fruit texture, fine hazelnut nuances, light chocolate, finesse, rich acidity, very elegant and well-balanced; on the finish accents of oranges and nougat, mineral-salty touch on the back palate with echoes of fine honey. A versatile food wine with great development potential. (11/19/20)"

96-98 points Essi Avellan, MW: "A blend of 52% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 13% Meunier, it took 198 different wines from 11 years to craft Joseph Krug’s dream wine, ‘the fullest expression of Champagne in one glass’. Chef de cave Julie remembers following the great 1996 Verzenay reserve wine in the tanks since the onset of her Krug career in 2006, and she says she felt emotional when the time came to include it in the 2012 blend as its oldest component among the 42% of reserve wines. She feels that some of the wine’s beeswax richness originates from that special wine. My first taste was from bottle with Krug ID 219012 (so disgorged in the spring of 2019). Refined yet expressive nose with richness of ripe stone fruits, candied lemon, baked apple and ginger reaching the nose first, followed by a gentle spiciness for fresh oak wood. Time in the glass brings forward layers of charismatic and complex brioche, yeast and honeycomb tones. On the palate it is even surprisingly tight and focused, with its brisk, saline acidity lining the fine, ripe and pure fruitiness. Less approachable upon launch than some editions, but it’s every drop just oozes ageing capacity. A keeper. 1,5 years after initial tasting of the same disgorgement, the wine was showing ever more glorious, opening up more and showing further complexities but keeping its initial tension and drive. (Dec 2021)"

97 points Jeb Dunnuck: "A beautiful Champagne, yet one that needs bottle age, the NV Grand Cuvee 168ème Edition comes mostly from the 2012 vintage (a good vintage) and has gorgeous apple blossom and stone fruits intermixed with classic Krug toasted brioche, toasted almond, white flowers, and honeysuckle aromatics. Just gorgeous on the palate as well, it's concentrated and has a rich, backward texture, bright acidity, and great finish. It takes lots of air to show at its best today, but do your best to hide bottles for 3-4 years. You'll be rewarded and it will evolve gracefully for another two decades or more. (Drink between 2024-2045. (Mar 2021)"

97 points James Suckling: "Quite rich aromas of cooked apples, peaches, pie crust and biscuit. Some dried pineapple. Full bodied with layers of fruit and a really lively backbone of acidity and energy. Really zippy and energetic at the end. A beauty. Based on the 2012 harvest, but 13 different years in the blend. Drink now. (10/18/20)"

96+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "The new release of Krug Grande Cuvée '168ème Édition' is from the base year of 2012, with the reserve wines in the blend stretching all the way back to 1996. The final cépages has ended up as fifty-two percent pinot noir, thirty-five percent chardonnay and thirteen percent pinot meunier. Forty-two percent of the blend is made up of reserve wines in this beautiful iteration of Grande Cuvée. The bouquet is superb, wafting from the glass in a mosaic of apple, white peach, a touch of Clos du Mesnil-like fresh apricot, almond, a beautifully complex base of soil tones, fresh-baked bread, hints of the caraway seed to come and a whisper of buttery oak (which is particularly evident when the wine is first poured, but quickly is subsumed in the other elements on the nose). On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and very complex, with a lovely core of fruit, fine soil signature, utterly refined mousse and a long, perfectly balanced and very energetic finish. This is one of the most effortless and seamlessly balanced young releases of Grande Cuvée in several years and is utterly brilliant wine. 2020-2080. (Nov/Dec 2020)"

96 points William Kelley (Wine Advocate): "Krug's NV Grande Cuvée 168ème Édition is a classic in the making, wafting from the glass with aromas of dried fruits, pear, toasted nuts, orange zest, honeycomb and freshly baked bread. Medium to full-bodied, generous but incisive, it's deep and elegantly fleshy, with a beautifully refined mousse and an enveloping core of fruit that's complemented by the characteristic Krug patina of nutty complexity imparted by barrel fermentation. Even if this is more open out of the gates than the 2011-based 167ème edition, the 168ème edition is also the more concentrated and intense of the two. It's based on the 2012 harvest, complemented by fully 42% reserve wines—a blend of 198 wines from 11 different vintages dating back to 1996. Drink: 2020-2040. (May 2020)"

96 points Simon Field, MW (Decanter): "52% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 13% Pinot Meunier. A gentle gold with discreet yet persistent mousse and aromatics of spring meadows, lemon sherbet and barley sugar; the wine is pure and softly powerful, youthful energy finely poised, somewhat cautious after so many years in the chalky cellars. The reserve wines, Pinot Noir from Verzenay and Chardonnay from Avize especially, are subtle in support, vivacious despite their relative maturity, contributing to an ensemble which is hitherto dominated by red fruit, courtesy of the superb Pinot Noir, and a colourful tension. Behind that there are whispers of honey, quince and posset… and with so much more to come; but the finish, happily in these days of privation, takes one to wherever one may wish to go. Drinking Window: 2020-2037. (May 2020)"

96 points Wine Enthusiast: "In line with the producer's practice of numbering each bottling of its flagship Grande Cuvée, this is the latest release. Following the house style, there is some marvelously impressive Pinot Noir in this rich, full blend. That gives the Champagne its luxurious feel, contrasting with the tension from the dryness and minerality. This bottling, which shows maturity, is ready to drink. Alcohol 12.5%. (Dec 2020)"

95 points Wine Spectator: "A seamless Champagne, effortlessly integrating a powerful spine of racy acidity with the detailed range of crème de cassis, raw almond, toasted saffron and candied ginger flavors. This is fine and silky in texture, with a tang of salty mineral and rich hints of coffee, toasted brioche and mandarin orange peel expanding on the finish. Disgorged winter 2018. Drink now through 2030. (12/15/20)"
Product SKU 345435
Producer Krug
Country France
Region Champagne
SubRegion Montagne de Reims
Varietal Champagne / Sparkling Blend
Designation Brut
Vintage NV
Size 1.5L
Color White
ABV 12.0%
Ships To