When I, in my Corona insulation, wrote my detailed summary of how the 30 most important vintage champagnes have developed over the years [read more here], it was extremely tempting to include Laurent-Perrier’s prestigious cuvée ‘Grand Siècle’ and Krug ‘Grande Cuvée’. But since these two are world-class champagnes at the prestige level, where the only similarity to the standard champagnes is that they consist of a composition from several vintages, I decided instead to take on Krug’s three magnificent blended wines; Krug ‘Grande Cuvée’ and its forgotten predecessor Krug ‘Private Cuvée’ and Krug ‘Rosé’ in this separate article.
THE HISTORIC BACKGROUND
Krug was founded in 1843 by a German visionary named Joseph Krug. His focus was clearly on perfection and enjoyment. After his time at the then much larger company, Jacquesson, he decided to create two perfect champagnes. One that only came out when the forces of the weather allowed, that is, the vintage champagne, and one that was perfect every year despite the weather changes.
From the start, he therefore built up a vinothèque of reserve wines from the best locations and villages he came across and when even the number of vintages was large enough, he fulfilled his dream and created a perfect multivintage every year. Joseph’s wine was initially named ‘Cuvée Nb1’, but according to my good friend Olivier Krug, the name was changed several times before it became ‘Private Cuvée’. Olivier Krug is the sixth generation of the Krug family to follow the founder’s recipe.
