Krug Brut Vintage 1996 750ml

FRANCE : CHAMPAGNE

Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier

FULL-BODIED, WHOLE-GRAIN TOAST, CANDIED LEMON, FRESH PEAR, HONEY, NEUTRAL OAK

1996 swung hard in Champagne — a rainy winter, heavy February frosts, a dry spring, a summer that lurched between scorching heat and downpours, then warm days and very cold nights into harvest. The grapes came in with both ripeness and bite. Krug built the blend around Pinot Noir: 48% Pinot Noir, 31% Chardonnay, 21% Meunier, all from the 1996 harvest.

It was the last Krug Vintage made by three generations of the Krug family working together, and Paul Krug II, not a man given to overstatement, tasted it and said: "I think this may well be the next 1928." Every plot ferments on its own in small old oak casks Krug keeps neutral, and the wine spent more than a decade in Krug's cellars before release.

Whole-grain toast and roasted nuts on the nose, then pear, candied lemon, honey and gingerbread on a firm, ripe palate, with a trace of mocha. Wine Spectator 99 pts, No. 10 on its Top 100 of 2007.

PAIRINGS :