Krug - Millésime 1996

Champagne Club by Richard Juhlin

A wine from the top vintage from the top producer can of course be nothing but fantastically good. However, it is easy to be disappointed when the expectation arc is tightened too hard. I was invited to my first bottle of this stately, but unredeemed wine by the Danish champagne couple Peter and Torun Kirk during an unforgettable dinner in their Copenhagen villa. We drank it side by side with a really wonderful bottle of 1988 Krug which in pure enjoyment classed out the 96'. However, it should be said that the 96' will be a heroic wine in a really long time. It is reminiscent of the 28 and also some of the 61 in its compact garb and youthful grumpy acidity. Monumental construction that has suddenly become mature and really good. Perfect 2024.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The real surprise among Krug’s 1996s is the 1996 Vintage, which is drinking beautifully, even among this rarified air of single-vineyard Champagnes. The 1996 Vintage is explosive and creamy, with just the right balance of power, richness and freshness. The mousse is perhaps just a touch less refined than in the 1996 Clos du Mesnil and Clos d’Ambonnay, but it is also perfectly measured with the wine’s exuberant personality. This multi-dimensional, textured Champagne is at the early part of its drinking window and promises to deliver an incredible drinking experience over the coming decades. The take-away from this flight of 1996s from Krug is simple. Although the 1996 Vintage can’t possibly be described as inexpensive, it shows exceptionally well next to its much more expensive brethren and clearly delivers a similar level of quality. Readers who have the opportunity to pick up this wine should not hesitate. It is a gem. No disgorgement date provided. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2036.

Decanter Magazine

This is a handsome yellow-gold colour with hints of bronze. Still fresh and vigorous yet with a ripe acidity. Wow, this is something else in the mouth! There is a lot going on - firm and tight one moment, then a panoply of sensuous flavours. Williams pears and glace à l'orange evolve into lemon and prunes. A splendid finale of great length and vigour demonstrates that this '96 still has years of life ahead of it.

Wine Spectator

Wine & Spirits Magazine

Jeannie Cho Lee

Gismondi on Wine

This is as close as it gets to perfection in champagne. Of all the 1996s this is the king. And it wasn't released until eleven years after the harvest which featured low yields and the surprising combination of high acid and sugars. It's a wonderfully concentrated fizz with an exceptional palate of flavours ranging from dried and stoned fruits and berries to nutty creamy textures and mineral, floral salty aftertaste. The finish is long and extremely persistent with amazing depth and it is just beginning to wake up. If properly stored it should keep for several decades. Amazing. (Anthony Gismondi and Stuart Tobe).

Tom Cannavan

Golden coloured and much more closed, much tighter, but then those burgeoning notes of nuts and sesame seeds, touches of stones, gravel and minerality. On the palate it is more taut, at this stage less layered and complex, but it has just fabulous intensity and length.