Krug Studio 2023

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For quite a few years now, Champagne Krug has been creating pairings between their annual releases and certain music pieces. This pairing with music, in fact, had its beginnings in Hong Kong of all places. I myself only got to experience it for the first time some 6 years ago with the launch of all the wines created in 2004.

Together with the launch of Krug Grande Cuvée 170ème Édition last year, I received a personalized Krug Studio "box set" which included a pair of Devialet Gemini earbuds. I opened up the Krug app on my phone, looked up the music pairings for the wine, and slowly sipped while the music played through my earbuds.

The Champagne house also got Sakamoto Ryuichi (坂本龍一) to create music for the 2008 vintage, and two of those wines - the millesimes and Clos de Mesnil - were released last year. While I have enjoyed the music from one of my favorite musicians meant to go with the Champagnes, I have yet to pop open any of my 2008s...

This year Krug has stepped it up further by setting up a pop-up Krug Studio in Elements. The sound-proof enclosure is equipped with screens wrapped around 270° and the familiar Devialet sound set up, with four seats inside allowing the guest to rest a glass on the platform integrated to the seat. 

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Once the door closes, one can focus on enjoying what's in the glass while the music plays and let one's imagination loose.

Five artists were chosen by Krug's chef de caves Julie Cavil to create the music for this year. They are violinist Miyamoto Emiri (宮本笑里), singer Kazu Makino (カズ牧野), drummer Moses Boyd, harpist Mary Lattimore, and producer Rone.

Krug Grande Cuvée, 171ème Édition, ID 122009 - definitely got that classic Krug nose with toasty brioche as well as lemon citrus. The acidity seemed a little higher than usual, and definitely more grippy on the palate. A lot more oaky on the nose, as if I was standing right next to the barrels in the cellar. Really full-bodied on the palate with a long finish. Interesting that when I mentioned to Olivier Krug that I found the acidity high, he noted that the base wine comes from a fairly ripe vintage (2015), so they had to make an effort to make sure the wine tasted "fresh".

Attending this tasting session today was notable for the fact that I finally met Olivier Krug. I'm nobody special in the world of wine, and although I have racked up some purchases of Krug in the last couple of years, the biggest fan around today is clearly Munching Dentist. So as Olivier and I got to talking for the first time and I mentioned that I liked old Champagne, he asked "what is the oldest (Champagne) you had?" It was pretty obvious that he was taken aback when my response was "1907 Heidsieck Monopole Goût Américain" - the famed bottles which remained submerged in ocean for 81 years. I'm lucky to have been able to taste this through the generosity of a friend.