Krug 2008

This would need to be utterly mind bending in a way no previous krug has ever been to get me to even think of buying any at the ridiculous price proposed. It’s clearly not even close to that and may even be seen as a relative failure in the vintage. Bon chance to anyone going long on this.
 
Dan I think the key here is £265 retail….. £250 from LVMH and no chance of anyone “going long” at £250 as you can get only one.

Main positive here is that it rescued one of Paul’s Cristal 08’s…well perhaps until next Tuesday :)
 
It seems that the initial release is limited and last I heard there were plenty of trade bids on Liv X equivalent to £3600 a case IB, but few if any sellers at that level. Allocations to the trade were at around £1900 a case IB, so I imagine some merchants will be sitting on their small stocks to resell into the secondary market at around £4000+ a case rather than the RRP level of around £2600 and having the severe problem of allocating what they have.
 
I am on the Clos19 mailing list so was offered on release at £250. I thought about the Krug 2002 I bought for £200 from Clos19 and how I found it interesting yet underwhelming and frankly not something I would try and hunt down even at a third of the price. I also took into account William Kelley's luke warm review which gave it a 94+ and then I factored in the chicanery that surrounded the release and the thought at the back of my mind that maybe they were never going to release it on quality grounds until they met the accountants and/or maybe the best 08 juice went into the 164? Best thing they have done here is limit purchases to 1 bottle as curtails flipping and minimises disappointment for those actually drinking it.
 
“From this exchange grew Krug's multi-
vintage concept, but it was not until Henri
Krug later revealed that he made his wines
back to front that I saw the light. If what he
says is true, then Krug does not have a basic
non-vintage because Henri Krug claims the
Grande Cuvée is blended first and is given
preference over any vintage that may or may
not be produced in any given year. This is the
opposite to what happens in other houses,
where a vintage is the first selection.”
Best juice always goes into GC first apparently.
Steve,
That lines up exactly.The explanation above is from Tom Stevenson, and is what I have always understood to be how things are done at Krug.
 
“From this exchange grew Krug's multi-
vintage concept, but it was not until Henri
Krug later revealed that he made his wines
back to front that I saw the light. If what he
says is true, then Krug does not have a basic
non-vintage because Henri Krug claims the
Grande Cuvée is blended first and is given
preference over any vintage that may or may
not be produced in any given year. This is the
opposite to what happens in other houses,
where a vintage is the first selection.”

Steve,
That lines up exactly.The explanation above is from Tom Stevenson, and is what I have always understood to be how things are done at Krug.

And it does actually line up with what I've seen. Krug's modern day issues have never been about the quality of the juice per se, but rather how they blend and release their vintage wines. The vintage would be better released after 6-8 years IMO rather than the 12-14 that seems to be typical, if you've tasted the '13 based GC, you can see that there is plenty of autolysis and potential complexity has already been realised.

I'm guessing that going long on vintage releases maybe down to slower sales more than anything; perhaps they've priced themselves out of the market a little bit, and given that they claim their GC to be their best wine (available at less than half of the cost of the vintage wine) it leaves the vintage label in an odd place.

One of the reasons why they "skipped" the 2008 (HA) and 2012 vintages was because of excess stock (slow sales from the fallout of the financial crisis of 2007/2008) and they wanted to reposition their inventory around GC.

All very bizarre.
 
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The quantities of both CdM and CdA are small.

There was a time (not so long ago) when production figures for both were published.

CdM about 12k-13k bottles, 480-500 mags

CdA about 5k bottles, 240
mags (mags starting in 2002 vintage)

So an absolute total (in a year when both are released, which is not every year) of about 20k bottles.

On the other hand, GC production has more than doubled in recent times.
Krug introduced a second site equivalent to their original base and now vinify over 1mn litres per year.
Most of that (say 1000k bottles) will be GC although there could be some declassification of vinified juice to other parts of LVMH.

So assuming that 1/2 of years are vintage years are vintage years for CdM/CdA the percentage contribution to GC would be an increase of something like

1/2* 20/1000

or

1%

i.e., pointless.
 
I think you have to realise that for a lot of companies their 'flagship' wine is not their most expensive: it's the one that sells the most (usually by a considerable margin) and is the core of the business. Every company I've ever spoken to about such flagships insists it gets first dibs on the best fruit/tanks/barrels. It may well be true, but is also the corporate message that they must put out.
 
A super bottle of Comtes 2008 tonight (thanks Filippo!) confirmed the relative disappointment of Krug 2008 at least at this stage.

Btw, just checked if you want to try Krug 2008, Clos19 is currently re-listing yet again at £250 (including delivery) [1 bottle per customer - and I've had my fair share so won't be asking for another].
If you are tempted please buy, drink and write your comments here. You won't find it cheaper!

Apparently, this is a 100/100 perfect wine according to jamessuckling.com: “Exceptional freshness with aromas of flinty white stones, flowers, almonds and lemons. There’s hazelnut and strawberry here, too. Complex. The palate has a long, powerful and smooth-honed feel with very assertive citrus flavors, driven by long acidity. A perfect 2008.” So don't believe me.
 
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A super bottle of Comtes 2008 tonight (thanks Filippo!) confirmed the relative disappointment of Krug 2008 at least at this stage.

Btw, just checked if you want to try Krug 2008, Clos19 is currently re-listing yet again at £250 (including delivery) [1 bottle per customer - and I've had my fair share so won't be asking for another].
If you are tempted please buy, drink and write your comments here. You won't find it cheaper!

Apparently, this is a 100/100 perfect wine according to jamessuckling.com: “Exceptional freshness with aromas of flinty white stones, flowers, almonds and lemons. There’s hazelnut and strawberry here, too. Complex. The palate has a long, powerful and smooth-honed feel with very assertive citrus flavors, driven by long acidity. A perfect 2008.” So don't believe me.
Hmm, you‘re not really tempting me, Paul!
You were considerably more persuasive with 09 Ridgeview mags :)
 
I've no idea how Suckling keeps going. Everyone knows that his grades are ridiculously inflated and that he does it to get quoted... And here I am adding to the oxygen!
There's no quicker way to nip a potential purchase in the bud than reading that Suckling has given it 94 or less. Has he ever given a wine 89? I wonder what it would taste like.
 
I've no idea how Suckling keeps going. Everyone knows that his grades are ridiculously inflated and that he does it to get quoted... And here I am adding to the oxygen!

Because he is quoted more than any other critic because of said points inflation? If you think about it, it is a surprise (and refreshing) that more don't do it.
 
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