Krug

[Jon_Lawrence]

It’s quite impressive how Krug prices in particular have risen. A few months back, in November, I bought two “Creations of 2008” Krug cases each of which had a bottle of 164th and a bottle of 2008 Krug for $665 per case . . . and added 2 bottles of 2008 separately for $395 each. Barely talked myself into it then, and now I’m pinching myself that I have them . . .

Drank both last night.

Second time having the 2008 in a few weeks, and it’s one of the most compelling young Champagnes I’ve ever had, and either right on par, or just a hair below the 1996 Krug, which is the most compelling young Champagne I’ve ever had.

The 164 on the other hand was fine, but nothing that I would be running out of my way to own. To add more context, I miss the days of the old gold label that went away more than 10 years ago. Those old Grand Cuvees were much more in the style of what I have always viewed as the Krug house style. Since then the wine comes across as more subdued and refined, but not always compelling, which are never tasting notes I would associate with a great bottle of Krug.

Now for the rebuttal. I thought it was just like the last time I had it and like Michael described it, tight, acidic and lacking fruit. I felt the 164 was similar just more yeasty. I would drink '08 Comtes/DP/Cristal/Rare over this any day and given the relative prices, that’s what I will be doing.

[MChang]

Drank both last night.

Second time having the 2008 in a few weeks, and it’s one of the most compelling young Champagnes I’ve ever had, and either right on par, or just a hair below the 1996 Krug, which is the most compelling young Champagne I’ve ever had.

The 164 on the other hand was fine, but nothing that I would be running out of my way to own. To add more context, I miss the days of the old gold label that went away more than 10 years ago. Those old Grand Cuvees were much more in the style of what I have always viewed as the Krug house style. Since then the wine comes across as more subdued and refined, but not always compelling, which are never tasting notes I would associate with a great bottle of Krug.

You must like the 04 then. I had the 08 a couple times recently and it’s been most similar to the 04, overly acidic, very tight, not much fruit. It has more potential though, to me. I like the 164 much more, except from magnum.

I am not sure the 96 has aged as gracefully as one might hope.

02 is fire right now.

At the current prices, I would be trying to buy as much cristal as possible as it seems like the best (relative) value. I got a bunch of 08 cristal rose mags lately for ~1000-1200, which seems like highway robbery compared to 1000-1200 for a 750 of 08 Krug.

I haven’t had 04 in a while. I didn’t love it on release, lacked in the texture department for me.

I have had very consistently great bottles of 96. The one that I had that was wonky tasted like it hadn’t been stored correctly, which I find all too common with vintage Champagne. The last bottle of 96 Krug I had tasted like it would age until 2070. It was pure magic.

Agreed about the pricing. No arguments there. I have been loving Cristal and find it really consistent. We had a great discussion about it last night over dinner. I’m going to try to track down a 2014 and try it. If it’s as good as the 2002 or 2008, I’ll bite the bullet and stock up.

I’ve had a couple bottles of 96 lately; they were great but paled in comparison to Taittinger or Salon.

02 Krug is superb right now; too bad it’s so expensive. I am sadly looking through my email and seeing offers of 02 krug mags for 600 less than a year ago.

[K_John_Joseph]

It’s wild. That’s what I paid too, and I bought mags for $400/btl.

I used to jealously read posts about old-timers who bought at laughably low prices. Now I feel like one–but I only had to wait a couple years! Same way with a bunch of other stuff.

It’s certainly entertaining, but it’s also really disappointing if you still want to buy and drink these wines. I have just a few bottles of Krug, but I liked picking up one here and there for a nice treat. At these prices that’s no longer possible, and I suspect new vintages will start to approach these too. I guess I should have bought more when I had the chance, but that’s true of a lot of wine now.

It is indeed. It’s the new normal, at least for now.

The good thing is, if you’re nimble enough and willing to abandon your favorites, there’s an ocean of amazing wine out there at every price point.

Or just keep buying Krug MV, as 169 was selling for $159, which was a better price than I could find for Dom 12 in Dallas.

[D_W_i_l_l_i_g_e_r]

Krug 169eme for $159? Where? I see it at $190 or more.

[MChang]

Envoyer has 08 for only 759…

[Andrew_K]

I never got a single offer for 08. They sold all the meager quantities in backroom deals to flippers. And then held back the Lion’s Share for future tranches at much higher prices. They took a frothy market and just added rocket fuel, blasting the pricing through the stratosphere.

[Michael_S_Monie]

I never got a single offer for 08. They sold all the meager quantities in backroom deals to flippers. And then held back the Lion’s Share for future tranches at much higher prices. They took a frothy market and just added rocket fuel, blasting the pricing through the stratosphere.

Did you ever see Kelly’s Heros? To paraphrase Oddball: Man I just can’t handle those negative vibes!

[jordan_whitehead]

Yeah there’s some real tools all over including here offering at nosebleed prices. I imagine they’ll find a buyer somewhere.

SPEAKING OF TOOLS

SIMPLE, DON’T BUY IT

IF THEY FIND A BUYER, THEN THAT’S MARKET PRICE. ARE YOU AWARE HOW THAT WORKS?

[jordan_whitehead]

I never got a single offer for 08. They sold all the meager quantities in backroom deals to flippers. And then held back the Lion’s Share for future tranches at much higher prices. They took a frothy market and just added rocket fuel, blasting the pricing through the stratosphere.

YEP, BECAUSE OF COURSE YOU KNOW WHAT EVERYONE WHO BOUGHT EARLY IS DOING WITH THEIRS.

JAWLB

[David_Bu3ker]

I never got a single offer for 08. They sold all the meager quantities in backroom deals to flippers. And then held back the Lion’s Share for future tranches at much higher prices. They took a frothy market and just added rocket fuel, blasting the pricing through the stratosphere.

Aww

[Scott_Brunson]

Envoyer has 08 for only 759…

fify

[jordan_whitehead]

I never got a single offer for 08. They sold all the meager quantities in backroom deals to flippers. And then held back the Lion’s Share for future tranches at much higher prices. They took a frothy market and just added rocket fuel, blasting the pricing through the stratosphere.

Guess you’re pissed at Dom Perignon too for adding rocket fuel by holding back vintages to release later as P2 and P3, blasting the pricing through the stratosphere.

Perhaps Krug should’ve just released 08s in magnum and forced you to pay $8k in a box with 2 each of back vintages

[Andrew_K]

Sensitive much?

[jordan_whitehead]

Sensitive much?

whiny LB much?

[Andrew_K]

After receiving an offer today for 02 Krug at $675, I was seriously considering buying a few bottles at $595. After all I offered $525 which isn’t that far off. But it seems those bottles are spoken for.

[Andrew_K]

I never got a single offer for 08. They sold all the meager quantities in backroom deals to flippers. And then held back the Lion’s Share for future tranches at much higher prices. They took a frothy market and just added rocket fuel, blasting the pricing through the stratosphere.

Aww

You can interpret it how you want, but I wasn’t complaining. They found a hole and are exploiting it. That’s business. I’m just stating how I see it and from a business perspective I don’t like that style of business.

For me it doesn’t matter much because I can take or leave Champs. I’m lucky enough to have enough 08 DP and Cristal to last nearly a lifetime for how infrequently I drink it, so I’ll just keep drinking that and wait for the market to shift and buy up some Krug and Salon and whatever else at that point.

[Craig_G]

Sure, I didn’t mean to imply it’s all one reason, but there is a general trend among the very high quality wines in the category (outside of the few that were always extremely expensive).

Oh sorry, I wasn’t picking on you, I was just looking to add to the discussion that it’s not just one reason why this is all happening. It’s all over the place, and kind of nuts.

No need to apologize; I didn’t take it that way. Yes, it is a confluence of things adding up to a tough market for those of us who love great Champagne and are not wealthy.

This type of polite discourse is really unbecoming for Wineberserkers. Please try to irrationally take offense and hurl some insults.

[Scott_Brunson]

Oh sorry, I wasn’t picking on you, I was just looking to add to the discussion that it’s not just one reason why this is all happening. It’s all over the place, and kind of nuts.

No need to apologize; I didn’t take it that way. Yes, it is a confluence of things adding up to a tough market for those of us who love great Champagne and are not wealthy.

This type of polite discourse is really unbecoming for Wineberserkers. Please try to irrationally take offense and hurl some insults.

Was that a joke?

[DougS]

Oh sorry, I wasn’t picking on you, I was just looking to add to the discussion that it’s not just one reason why this is all happening. It’s all over the place, and kind of nuts.

No need to apologize; I didn’t take it that way. Yes, it is a confluence of things adding up to a tough market for those of us who love great Champagne and are not wealthy.

This type of polite discourse is really unbecoming for Wineberserkers. Please try to irrationally take offense and hurl some insults.

[Andrew_M1]

Mixed reviews, at best, on the 2008 Krug and yet an offer this morning sold out at $800. Madness