Krug, Grande Cuvee 172eme Edition

The NV Champagne Grande Cuvée 172 was created around the 2016 harvest year, and they enriched it with 146 wines dating from 2016 back to 1998. It pours a medium straw/yellow hue and is very pretty on the nose, with floral aromas leading out of the gate, followed by notes of candied green apples, fresh linen, lime sorbet, redcurrants, delicate spice, and fresh almond. It’s rounded and medium-bodied on the palate, with a refined, delicately chalky texture, even, mouthwatering saline, fresh lift, and a long, fresh finish. As it opens, it starts to show its deeper profile in the blend, with notes of toast and crushed stones. It’s a lovely addition to the range that will have a wide drinking window and improve with time over the next 20 years. Give it 3-4 years in the cellar.

44% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Meunier. Base wine 2016, 42% reserve wines (oldest 1998), 6 years on the lees, disgorged January 2023. Dosage 6 g/l. Gentle, creamy, pure citrus aroma and ever so subtly toasty. Clementine, jasmine. So many gorgeous layers. Hint of ginger. This is intense and piercing. Not bone dry, and the sweetness shows a little on the finish at the moment even if it is perfectly balanced. More perfumed as it opens in the glass but the autolytic character is gentle. Orange blossom. So much more perfumed than I expected. Slightly sweet-tasting on the finish. (JH)

There’s salted-pastry aroma on the nose, not far off the scent of a freshly baked cheese stick. Lovely apple fruit with dashes of tropical citrus (starfruit?) as well. Medium body, integrated acid and a long, savoury finish that has the mushroomy maturity that is so classic for great champagne. (RH)