Krug Rosé 25ème Édition is the house's rosé built around the 2013 harvest, a blend of 28 wines drawn from five different years. It applies Krug's way of blending, with half the cuvée taken from reserves, to pink Champagne.
About This Champagne
The 25ème Édition is composed around 2013, a cool, rainy year with an autumn harvest that gave the house's oldest plots room to shine. The oldest wine in the blend is from 2008, and reserves make up 50% of the final assemblage. Chardonnay came from the Côte des Blancs, the Sézannais and the Montagne de Reims, while Meunier from Sainte Gemme was used from both 2013, for structure, and the riper 2012 harvest, for aroma. The finished blend is 45% Pinot Noir, 11% of it macerated red wine, with 30% Chardonnay and 25% Meunier.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Rose hip and redcurrant, then mulberry, peony, cracked pepper and a savoury cured-ham note, with pink grapefruit keeping it fresh.
- Palate: Dry and vinous, with honey, citrus peel and dried fruit carried on a very fine mousse.
- Finish: Long and savoury, the red fruit fading into spice and a chalky edge.
Serving & Food
Serve at around 10 to 12°C in a white-wine glass rather than a flute so the Pinot Noir has room. It copes with food that would flatten most rosés: Peking duck, rack of lamb with rosemary, or a plate of char siu. Drinking well now and will keep developing for several years.
How to Enjoy
A dinner where the rosé is meant to go with the main course, not just the toast.
Product Details
House: Krug
Edition: Rosé 25ème Édition
Origin: Champagne, France
Base Harvest: 2013
Composition: 28 wines from 5 years (2008 to 2013)
Reserve Wines: 50% of the final blend
Blend: 45% Pinot Noir (including 11% traditionally macerated red Pinot Noir), 30% Chardonnay, 25% Meunier
Volume: 750mL
About the Maison
Joseph Krug founded his house in Reims in 1843 with an idea that was unusual at the time: a Champagne should be just as good in a difficult year as in a great one, and the way to do that was to keep a deep library of reserve wines. Each plot is still vinified on its own so the tasting committee can judge it before any blending begins. The rosé came much later. In 1976 the fifth generation of the family set out to make a pink Champagne on the same principle, many separate plot wines finished with a traditionally macerated red Pinot Noir for colour, spice and grip. A new numbered Édition has followed each year, and cellar master Julie Cavil now composes them.