The house of Krug Champagne was established in 1843. Every vintage since has been blended by a member of the Krug family. It is the only Grande Marque Champagne house that still ferments its wines in small oak casks, a method that encourages longevity in the wines. Krug ages its wines at least six years before release to ensure the wines have attained a high level of maturity before reaching consumers. Krug has the largest stock of reserve wines from the finest vintages in Champagne. This allows the wine making team numerous options when blending new and mature vintages to maintain the house style over many years. The wine is ready to drink upon release and it will age well for many years.
Johann-Joseph Krug had been in the Champagne industry for years when he decided to start his own winery and founded Krug in 1843. The traditions of Krug have been handed down from generation to generation, and today Olivier Krug has taken over for his father Henri and Uncle Remi Krug. Varying from year to year, production is tiny when compared to all the other Grande Marques, but is of unparalleled quality.
“One cannot obtain a good wine without using good elements and good terroirs. We may have obtained seemingly good cuvees by using ordinary or even mediocre elements and wines, but these are exceptions that one must never count on. Otherwise, there is a risk that one’s process will fail or one’s reputation will be ruined."
Krug oversees all viticultural practices used in growing grapes for its wines. The maison (the house) owns prestigious vineyard sites in Le Mesnil, Oger, and Avize, all Grand Cru vineyards of the Côte des Blancs. It also owns vineyards in Aÿ and Ambonnay, which provide Grand Cru Pinot Noir.
Grapes that are purchased for Krug are supplied by a network of small growers with whom the house has been working for many years, in some cases for generations. Krug purchases the vineyards' entire production each year, and in return is allowed to consult closely with the growers regarding issues such as the treatment of the vines and soil, the yields and the harvest date. Representatives from Krug are sent into the fields to oversee the harvest at each location. The average rating of all of the grapes on the échelle des crus is 98%. (The échelle des crus is the means by which French regulators assess and rank the quality of vineyard sites across the entire Champagne appellation; it’s a strict grading system in which the higher the rating, the higher quality of grapes, 98% is close to perfect.) Most of the grapes come from Grand Cru slopes that are rated a perfect 100%, but Krug believes in the importance of Pinot Meunier to the blend to add its characters to the aroma, and few Pinot Meunier vineyards are rated 100%. The grapes are gently pressed and left to settle before fermentation begins.
Krug is the only Grande Marque Champagne house that ferments its base wines in 205-liter oak casks in the traditional Champagne method. The casks are used -- that is these casks have been employed previously – and impart almost no oak character to the wines. How is this accomplished? The answer is that in the first year casks are used, they are only filled with hot water. The second year, they are used for wine that will be sent to a distillery, in other words, these wines are not used at all in Krug Champagnes, but only to help “season” the barrel for use in its third year. In the third year, these now-seasoned barrels hold the Krug wines that are used for topping off all the other the casks of aging Krug wines. Thus, the oak flavor is spread evenly throughout the wines.
Each barrel contains wine from a separate lot, all of which have different flavor characteristics. This separation increases the complexity of the blends. In barrel fermentation, there is also a very slight interaction between oxygen and the fermenting wine that brings out more aromas and flavors than is possible with the use of stainless steel or cement vats.
After alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation – a process which converts a wine’s tart-tasting malic acids into softer-tasting lactic acids, conferring more buttery flavors to a finished wine – is generally avoided, although it is not suppressed by chemical means. The base wines are never filtered and are racked using gravity and held in stainless tanks to preserve their character. Blending and stabilization are also done in stainless steel. Wines that will be held as reserve wines are stored in stainless steel tanks that are blanketed with inert gas. Base wines are selected with the house style in mind and some are held for up to twelve years before being used.
Blending takes place every February and it can take a week to determine the most perfect cuvée. Since the beginning of Krug, every wine produced has been blended by a member of the Krug family, a continuation of the legacy of its founder.
After secondary fermentation in the bottle, Krug ages the Champagne for a very long time on its lees, anywhere from six to ten years, according to the demands of the vintage. Krug has, in certain vintages, released its Champagnes out of chronological order so as to ensure that the wines have aged sufficiently before being disgorged. Krug has an amazing 3.5 million bottles of Champagne aging in its cellar and often uses these older vintages for blending.
Harvest Video Olivier Krug talks to Decanter about the 2010 harvest in Champagne.
Johann-Joseph Krug had been in the Champagne industry for years when he decided to start his own winery and founded Krug in 1843. The traditions of Krug have been handed down from generation to generation, and today Olivier Krug has taken over for his father Henri and Uncle Remi Krug. Varying from year to year, production is tiny when compared to all the other Grande Marques, but is of unparalleled quality. 
Krug oversees all viticultural practices used in growing grapes for its wines. The maison (the house) owns prestigious vineyard sites in Le Mesnil, Oger, and Avize, all Grand Cru vineyards of the Côte des Blancs. It also owns vineyards in Aÿ and Ambonnay, which provide Grand Cru Pinot Noir.
The average rating of all of the grapes on the échelle des crus is 98%. (The échelle des crus is the means by which French regulators assess and rank the quality of vineyard sites across the entire Champagne appellation; it’s a strict grading system in which the higher the rating, the higher quality of grapes, 98% is close to perfect.) Most of the grapes come from Grand Cru slopes that are rated a perfect 100%, but Krug believes in the importance of Pinot Meunier to the blend to add its characters to the aroma, and few Pinot Meunier vineyards are rated 100%. The grapes are gently pressed and left to settle before fermentation begins. 
