Regardless of its origin or its eventual destination, all harvested fruit is first fermented in 205 litre oak barrels made from Argonne wood. It is here that we see perhaps the most distinct difference between Krug and other houses, where a primary fermentation in oak is a rarity. Despite this the Krug wines are never dominated by new oak aromas, and no doubt this is down to the meticulous preparation the barrels undergo, first being "de-seasoned" with water, and then used to store press wines (which are sold off and not incorporated into Krug) for several vintages before they can be used for Krug proper. Once the alcoholic fermentation is done the wines are racked twice, and there is no malolactic. They are then stored in stainless steel vats prior to blending or to more long-term keeping as a reserve wine, an essential component for the Krug style.
About WineThe entry-level wine is the Grande Cuvée, although its price matches that of other houses' prestige cuvées. It is a essentially a non-vintage cuvée, although the Krug machine would prefer you think of it as multi-vintage. This is fair enough; whereas many Champagne house would blend in perhaps 20-30% reserve wines, usually from fairly recent vintages, at Krug the reserve wines make up anywhere between 35 and 50% of the final blend (although it can go higher, such as 59% in 1988), and are sourced from a multitude of mature vintages held in stock.
