Krug Brut Champagne Grande Cuvée Edition 170 NV

99 points Bettane & Desseauve Guide (2024).

96-98 points Essi Avellan, MW: "(51% Pinot Noir, 28% Chardonnay, 11% Meunier). This Grande Cuvée Edition is a blend of 195 wines from 12 different years spanning from 1998 to 2014. The colour is rich, lemon-gold; the nose already generous, with a complex melange of apricot jam and dried fruits, sweet pastries and baking spices. The oak is notable but neatly in the background and with no oxidative tones; it lends only sweet, spicy tones and charred-wood whiffs. This is the child of a cool year, and the acidity feels accentuated, the overall impression a little lighter than on most vintages. But there is a welcome freshness cutting all that concentration and vinosity, leading to a super-long, driven and mouthwateringly fresh finish. Even if it comes with great potential, the wine is generous, laudable and already approachable now. Krug ID 221037. Dosage 6g/l. (Aug 2022)"

96 points Tom Hewson (TimAtkin.com): "2014 base. 51% Pinot Noir, 38% Chardonnay, 11% Pinot Meunier. A strong release showing purity and vibrancy. Opening with sea spray freshness, under which persistent, subtle fruits push through with persistence and length; preserved citrus and roasted yellow fruits, ripe fleshy breadfruit and apricot, finally fine citrus-syrup Chardonnay. The developed richness is there, sourdough, walnuts in honey and cocoa, but it is still in the starting blocks. A very fine release, up there with the best of the last decade. (Dec 2022)"

96 points James Suckling: "Wonderful precision and depth right away on the nose, with dried pineapple, light apricot and hints of flint and slate. Medium-bodied palate that’s firm, bright and linear. Vivid,driven acidity adds focus and perfection. Dried lemon and a wonderful, creamy texture with a mineral undertone. Extremely long, almost endless. Sophistication here. Drink or hold. (7/4/22)"

96 points Wine Enthusiast: "The numbering indicates this is the 170th blending of this Champagne. This iteration has a fine poise—it's mature and toasty on the one hand and offers rich fruit on the other. It is a finely balanced wine that is ripe and full in the mouth. Drink this beautiful wine now. Alcohol 12.5%. (Dec 2022)"

95+ points & '#25 Top 100 Wines of 2022' Jeb Dunnuck: "From vintages spanning from 1998 to 2014, the NV Champagne Grande Cuvee 170eme Edition is decadent and nuanced, with a rounded perfume of toasted brioche, lemon curd, and honeydew melon. Ripe yellow orchard fruits fill the palate with nectarine, fresh grapefruit pith, and a core of acidity. This is showing wonderfully now, although it still has the tension to go for the next 20 years. Drink 2022-2042 (Nov 2022)."

95 points William Kelley (Wine Advocate): "Krug's NV Grande Cuvée 170ème Édition is based on the 2014 vintage, complemented by some 45% reserve wines dating back to 1998, with the house drawing on, among many others, 2013 for structure and 2012 and 2003 for generosity. Opening in the glass with aromas of pastry cream, dried fruits, pear, warm spices, freshly baked bread and vanilla pod, it's medium to full-bodied, pillowy and fine-boned, with excellent concentration, racy acids and a precise, chiseled profile. But if the latter adjective could be applied to the 2013-base 169ème édition equally felicitously, the 2014-base 170ème is more giving and less tightly wound out of the gates and will offer more demonstrative drinking young. Drink: 2021-2041. (Jun 2022)"

95 points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "The very soon to be released new '170ème Édition' of Krug Grande Cuvée is a stunning young wine. It is from the base year of 2014 and composed from a cépages of fifty-one percent pinot noir, thirty-eight percent chardonnay and eleven percent pinot meunier. In this vintage, a nearly unprecedented forty-five percent of the blend was made up of reserve wines. The reason so much of the blend this year was made up of reserve wines was the crop of pinot noir in 2014 was not stellar, as it had to contend with the infestation of Suzuki flies that damaged the quality of this grape in particular leading into the harvest of 2014. But, fortunately, there was plenty of pinot noir in the reserve wine library at Maison Krug, so the challenge was able to be overcome beautifully. The '170ème Édition' of Grande Cuvée is strikingly floral this year, offering up a beautiful bouquet of pear, delicious apples, hazelnut, a complex base of soil tones, orange zest, patissière and a gorgeous array of floral scents in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, crisp and beautifully mineral in profile, with a fine core, refined mousse and a very long, complex and perfectly balanced finish. This is a beautiful rendition of this iconic wine. 2022-2065. (Mar/Apr 2022)"

95 points Anne Krebiehl, MW (Falstaff): "A subtle nose of maple syrup and candied lemon opens up to reveal a hint of maize meal and shiitake. It leads onto a palate that is utterly streamlined and lemon-scented. This is serene but it comes with beautiful depth and a lovely note of autolysis, expressed as lemony, creamy polenta, enhanced by fine mousse. There are highlights of grapefruit zestiness with the lovely signature savouriness of Krug, expressed in just a hint of salty, grilled shiitake mushroom, revealed on the long and mouth-watering finish. A most brisk, taut, bright, but also rather subtle and profound iteration of Krug. (4/27/22)"

95 points Wine Spectator: "A lovely, mouthwatering Champagne, with a vivid and finely detailed panoply of baked nectarine, lime blossom, ground coffee, mandarin orange peel, candied ginger and salted almond notes set in a lithe, limber frame. Seamlessly knit, with a sense of buoyant vitality, this has a harmonious, elegant frame for the richly expressive flavor range. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier. Disgorged winter 2020 to 2021. Drink now through 2027. (11/30/22)"

95 points Charles Curtis, MW (Decanter): "This marvellous wine is at the same time rich with smoky, yeasty aromas, yet also very crisp and pure. ‘I smell all the French breakfast: toast, butter, marmalade and coffee,' said Krug cellar master Julie Cavil. For me, the combination of lively acidity and a rich density of flavour on the palate is unstoppable. The blend is 45% reserve wines going back to 1998, and this was aged seven years on the lees, being disgorged in the winter of 2020-2021. Drinking well now, but will also continue to improve with time in the cellar. Drinking Window: 2022-2040. (Jun 2022)"

95 points La Revue du Vin de France: "This year, we're unveiling the 170th anniversary edition, featuring 195 different wines and twelve vintages from 2014 to 1998. The wine shows finesse and distinction, with controlled power; the palate is complex and the Pinots dominate. It is not, however, a taut, chiseled wine like the 169th Edition was. It seduces with its freshness and relaxed texture. (2023)"