Krug Rose Edition 26, Champagne

Based on the 2014 vintage, complemented by some 33% reserve wines from six other vintages, Krug's new NV Brut Rosé 26ème Édition is showing beautifully, offering up aromas of tart red berries and plums mingled with notions of warm biscuits, dried fruits, flowers and orange zest. Medium to full-bodied, taut and incisive, with terrific concentration, racy acids and a long, penetrating finish, it's an intensely flavored, electric wine that stands out as a particularly good recent release from this storied house.

96 points William Kelley robertparker.com

At first sight, its subtle pale pink colour holds a promise of elegance.
On the nose, aromas of rose hips, cured ham, mulberries, redcurrant, peony, pepper and pink grapefruit.
On the palate, delicate flavours of honey, citrus and dried fruit with a long finish, enhanced by its fine bubbles complete the experience.

Krug Rosé is inspired by the dream of the fifth generation of the Krug family to conceive a rosé Champagne that did not yet exist, one that could be re-created each year. Every Édition of Krug Rosé perpetuates this legacy. 

Krug Rosé is surprising, as it replaces a good red wine at the table with brio. This Champagne is a delicate blend of wines of the year with wines from selected plots of the House’s vast reserve library, completed with traditionally macerated Pinot Noir to add structure and spice. A rest of around seven years in Krug’s cellars gives Krug Rosé its refined elegance and character.

Krug Rosé 26ème Édition was composed around the harvest of 2014, an erratic year that oscillated between hot dry spells, and cool rainy periods. Vines developed under good conditions, ensuring a generous, high quality harvest. The contrasting weather preserved freshness and resulted in great heterogeneity throughout the region, underscoring the importance of the House’s plot-by-plot approach. Each year, to re-create the dream of the fifth generation of the Krug family of an unexpected, bold and elegant rosé Champagne, the House starts by identifying plots’ wines from the current and previous years that will together convey all possible types of fruit expression. This composition then embraces a traditionally macerated red Pinot Noir, which adds spiciness, colour and structure. Krug Rosé 26ème Édition is thus the result of complementing the selected plots’ wines of the year with reserve wines from 6 other years. Reserve Chardonnay plot’s wines from the 2006 harvest bring roundness and unctuousness to this Édition of Krug Rosé, while a red Pinot Noir wine of the year blended from plots in Aÿ and Taissy completed the creation. It is the 26th time this dream has been re-created. In all, reserve wines from the House’s extensive library made up 33% of the final blend of this Édition of Krug Rosé.

The final composition of this Édition of Krug Rosé is 44% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 26% Meunier.