Very fragrant. This has developed bright, ripe red cherry fruit aromas, vanilla cream, sweet roasted almond biscuits, some marzipan, tobacco, lemon meringue and chalky minerals. The palate has an assertive core of fine acidity with more yellow fruits expressed on entry, like peaches and nectarines. Good ripeness, superfine acidity. The redder fruits build as it goes; cherries and raspberries, yellow plums to close. Full of life. Drink now or up to 20 years, it will go the distance.

– jamessuckling.com, July 2015

Full copper-gold color. Initially restrained, brooding nose exploded with aeration, showing apple, orange, apricot, honey, iodine, smoke, hazelnut, macadamia and a suggestion of dry oloroso sherry. Dense, full, chewy and rich; an extraordinarily solid Champagne with an intriguing suggestion of Calvados. Broadens toward the back and goes on and on on the echoing aftertaste, with rich, mellow notes of toffee, brown butter and marrow. Like the '92 Clos du Mesnil, this displays its powerful underlying acidity with aeration (Krug's wines never go through malolactic fermentation) and should be long-lived.

– vinous.com, November 2004

Quality 959 | Brand 993 | Economics 907 |

buzz brand, investment staple
Quality: Predicted life of 17 years, one of the longest drinking windows in its peer group, which averages 5 years Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 47 of the world's top wine lists, including Le Calandre Economics: Above its peer group average price of £126 for the 2000 vintage Production:

- www.wine-lister.com, June 2017

Brioche, dried pear, smoke, almonds, chamomile and wild herbs are all laced together in Krug's 2000 Vintage. A wine of striking depth and resonance, the 2000 is absolutely gorgeous today. The first signs of very early tertiary complexity have begun to appear while the acidity is softening, both of which make the 2000 delicious today. At the same time, there is no hurry. I imagine the 2000 will still be gorgeous 20 years from now. Slight elements of reduction linger on the close. The blend is 43% Chardonnay, 42% Pinot Noir and 15% Pinot Meunier, a rare vintage in which Chardonnay is quite high.

– vinous.com, November 2014

(LD210008): Light gold. A heady, complex bouquet evokes orange peel, poached pear, rye bread, honey and toffee, with gingerbread and smoke nuances. Deeply concentrated but energetic, offering intense, chewy orchard and citrus fruit flavors and suggestions of buttered toast, candied fig and anise. The smoky quality comes back strong on the finish, which displays superb breadth, energy and persistence. Showing plenty of early complexity for a vintage Krug but there's the requisite depth and power here to suggest that patience will be rewarded, or at the very least tolerated.

The Krug vintage 2000 Brut smells strikingly redolent of sea breeze, kelp, and piles of oyster and mussel shells, allied to lemon oil and toasted hazelnuts. On the palate, the aforementioned elements serve for compulsive salivation, while a lusciously juicy amalgam of lime, grapefruit and apple tinged with piquancy of their pips buoys the salty wave of mineral matter into a profoundly protracted finish that bursts with brightness and at the same time reveals mouthwateringly savory crab shell reduction and a hitherto largely hidden dark side of smoky Latakia tobacco, dark-roasted coffee, and toasted grains. Expect this to merit following for 12-15 years. Krug – part of the Louis-Vuitton-Moet-Hennessy luxury goods empire since 1999 – continues to release wines fully worthy of their house’s exalted reputation that reflect inter alia the effects of micro-vinification in barrel and an (in the best sense) laissez-faire and leisurely attitude toward elevage and bottle-aging. (Although – for what little this may be worth – count me among those who find the metalicized labels that now adorn their bottles glitzy, and as such slightly incongruous with their contents). Director Olivier Krug represents his family’s sixth generation, assisted by veteran cellarmaster Eric Lebel and oenologist Julie Cavil. Most Champagne lovers will realize that each bottle from Krug nowadays comes with an identification number enabling the consumer to research its approximate disgorgement date – and sometimes other details specific to the bottle in question – via the house’s web site; but in keeping with the convention established for my reports, I have only referenced this number for the purpose of disambiguating non-vintage cuvees. Imported by Moet Hennessy, New York, NY; tel. (212) 251-8200