Iconic Single-Vineyard Krug

Very few wines in the world are as rare, special, and profound as Krug's Clos du Mesnil. Any wine lover should count themselves lucky just to have tasted it once in their lifetime. I felt blessed indeed to drink a bottle of it in my front yard with Cinnamon during this year's endless California Indian summer. Given my previous experience with this wine and the high price, my expectations were very, very high. I was not disappointed.

The Clos du Mesnil is a 4.5-acre walled vineyard within the most prestigious and expensive cru in Champagne. It originally belonged to the sisters Tarin, but Krug has owned it now for a long time and started selling the wine with the 1979 vintage. This site, like the whole village of Mesnil, is planted to Chardonnay, and the soil here is the purest of belemnita chalk, loaded with ancient fossilized shellfish. To qualify as a "clos" in Champagne, the vineyard must be walled in, and the wall must be tall enough that a horse cannot jump over it. Also, the press and winemaking facility must be onsite—so this, along with the Clos Ambonnay from Krug, are the two wines that are not made in Reims. Like all the Krug wines, this was entirely barrel fermented. The bottle we drank was Krug ID 319030 and disgorged in summer of 2019. The production is 14,973 bottles and 800 magnums for the 2006 vintage, and the magnums are always released later after more time on the lees. 

We had our bottle of 2006 Krug "Clos du Mesnil" Brut Blanc de Blancs Champagne with caviar and homemade buckwheat blini. There is no point in economizing when choosing one's accompaniment for Clos du Mesnil. It was a magic combination, and I can't recommend it highly enough! The wine was loaded with complexity yet presented very elegantly—the more I concentrated on it, the more I found; but it was simple to just enjoy. The bouquet was loaded with brioche from the over-a-dozen years of ageing on the lees and was open and generous. In the mouth I found the wine expansive, even cloud-like, without a touch of heaviness. The long finish showed off the concentration of this wine, with detailed, chalky power that was amplified by the nutty caviar. No doubt this will be one of my best Champagne experiences of the year.

A toast to you!

- Gary Westby