Krug Clos du Mesnil 1992 Magnum

Krug Clos du Mesnil 1992 Magnum

In 1971, the discovery of a walled plot in the heart of the Champagne region led to what has now become a House of Krug legend: Rémi and Henri Krug, 5th generation of the Krug family, after just one telephone call, seized on instinct an opportunity to purchase 6 hectares (14.35 acres) of vines, split into around 15 plots located in the village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger.

When the brothers went to visit their new vineyards, they discovered nestled among the houses, the walled plot of Clos du Mesnil. Etched into the stone wall, Rémi and Henri Krug found the words “In the year 1698, this wall was built by Claude Jannin and Pierre Dehée Metoen and in the same year the vines were planted by Gaspard Jannin, son of Claude.”

In 1979, the Krug brothers decided to make a Champagne created exclusively from grapes of this Clos and this single year. Krug Clos du Mesnil 1979 was born at a time when the conventions in Champagne concentrated on blending multiple wines from varied plots.

"Subdued, extremely pure, soil-inflected nose hints at lemon, ginger, smoke, minerals, iodine, nutmeg and hazelnut. From a sniff, I would have been as likely to say Le Montrachet or Corton-Charlemagne as Mesnil, but I would certainly have named one of the planet's elite sites for chardonnay. Very laid-back and dry, even austere today, with an extremely fine-grained texture and penetrating flavors of minerals, citrus skin, flowers and hazelnut. A thoroughly unevolved wine of great intensity and subtlety. Seems to grow even denser toward the back, but the bracing finish suggests that this great Champagne should really be forgotten for another four or five years. 95(+?) points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: