CRITIC REVIEWS
Antonio Galloni
Krugs 1998 Brut Vintage is an excellent choice for drinking today, as the classic Krug style is rich, alive and totally vivid. Honey, almonds, smoke, graphite and dried apricots are some of the many aromas and flavors found in this rich, enveloping Champagne. A wine of texture and depth, the 1998 impresses for its vinous personality and terrific balance. Lively veins of underlying acidity suggest the 1998 will drink well for many years to follow. This is one of the best bottles of the 1998 I have ever tasted. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2038.
Jancis Robinson
35% Pinot Noir, 46% Chardonnay, 19% Pinot Meunier. Known as ‘a tribute to Chardonnay’. A particularly hot August, breaking a record set in 1962. This was Eric Lebel’s first vintage and 1998 is remembered as a year of quantity as well as high quality grapes. Second time since 1981 that Chardonnay dominated a Krug vintage. Both bottles tasted blind. Deep amber-tinged straw. Mushroomy nose at first made me wonder whether there wasn’t a touch of TCA? Just a hint of decay – perhaps because it’s very old. Not that long. We tasted a second bottle but it had the same nose, and tasted possibly just a little more acid. I wondered whether it was perhaps the 1988?