Krug Grande Cuvee 170 eme Gift Box, Champagne

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.

96 points jamessuckling.com

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.

95 points Charles Curtis MW decanter.com

A lovely ferny nose and breezy seaside raciness. Bright yellow fruit on entry, a flicker of preserved lemon and cooked quince adding vibrancy. Then comes the Krug richness which spreads over the palate. The balance hovers tantalisingly between tactile precision and soft warm fruit and the finish reveals layers of cinnamon-tinctured blancmange, and the creaminess goes on. Rich but light on its feet. A definite buy and a keeper. The 2014 base harvest was hit by sour rot and mildew in mid-summer. Intense selection meant Krug had to reduce the amount of Meunier to half its Grande Cuvée average, and reserve wines (representing 45% of the final wine) back to 1998 buttress the balance and complexity; a triumph of blending. It also relies heavily on 2013 to add life and structure. Main harvest: 2014. 45% reserves. Aged for six years on lees. Disgorged: Spring 2021.

95 points Tim Hall decanter.com

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.

95 points William Kelley robertparker.com

Chef de Caves Julie Cavil and I sat down to taste the newly released 2008 Clos du Mesnil—alongside the 2008 vintage and 2008-base Grande Cuvée 164ème Édition—at the house's cellars in Reims last week. At the same time, Krug's 2021-base Grande Cuvée, the future 177ème Édition, was in tirage, a reminder of how slowly time passes in Champagne. And meanwhile, work is well underway in the house's new state-of-the-art winery in Ambonnay, which is rapidly taking shape.

Krug Grande Cuvée is born from the dream of one man, Joseph Krug, to craft the very best Champagne he could offer, every single year, regardless of annual variations in climate. Since 1843, the House of Krug has honoured this vision with each new Édition of Krug Grande Cuvée: the most generous expression of Champagne.

Krug Grande Cuvée is re-created every year, beyond the notion of vintage and is a blend of over 120 individual wines from more than 10 different years. The fullness or flavours and aromas achieved by this careful art of blending would be impossible to express with the wines of a single year.