Grande Cuvée 171

The wine in this vintage

Grande Cuvée 171st Edition is based on the 2015 harvest, a hot and very dry year in Champagne that produced ripe, structured wines. To balance that generosity, the blend draws on a rich selection of fresher reserve wines, keeping the house signature intact: complexity, breadth and length. The nose weaves together yellow fruit, candied citrus, linden blossom, toasted almond and pastry notes; the palate is full and generous, lifted by a freshness that lightens its step and a persistent finish. Wine Spectator awarded it 97 points. Edition 171 is enjoyable and rewarding today, with a sunny profile; it can be kept a few more years, during which its toasty and dried-fruit notes will deepen.

The producer · Krug

Founded in Reims in 1843 by Joseph Krug, the house was built on an idea as simple as it was radical: to craft the finest Champagne possible every single year, regardless of the vagaries of the weather. That vision gave rise to Grande Cuvée, a blend of more than a hundred wines from different years and plots, drawn from one of the largest libraries of reserve wines in Champagne. Every plot is vinified separately in small, well-seasoned oak casks that let the wine breathe without marking it with wood, and time on the lees is among the longest in the region. Alongside its blends, Krug produces two legendary single-plot wines: Clos du Mesnil, a walled Chardonnay vineyard in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and Clos d'Ambonnay, a tiny walled parcel of Pinot Noir. Now part of LVMH yet still shaped by the Krug family and its winemaking team, the house remains the benchmark for anyone who looks to Champagne for the depth, complexity and longevity of a truly great wine.

Critics' scores

• 97 Wine Spectator

Technical details

Producer

Krug

Region

Champagne

Country

Francia

Type

Bollicine

Vintage

171

When to drink

Hold, still evolving

Critics' average

97/100

Sizes

75 cl, Magnum 150 cl, Case of 6 × 75 cl

eWibe code

0610471