Invest In Rare Champagne From Krug: The World's Best Champagne House?

The World's Best Champagne House?

When talking about Champagne, they can be roughly divided into three categories: NV (non-vintage) vintage and single plot vineyard Champagne. Although the world of Champagne is not that black and white, this division is nevertheless a reasonable guideline. Every Champagne lover has their own favorite in each category and each category has their unofficial kings.

However, one producer is particularly well represented and joins the top of each category with wines of significant quality and recognition. The producer in question is, of course, Krug. Krug's NV Champagne "Grande Cuvée" is loosely referred to as the world's best non-vintage Champagne and by numbered editions, the closest you can get to a vintage Chamagne without it being. We have dealt with Krug's vintage Champagne, "Krug Vintage", on several occasions, and even when compared to the closest competitors, Cristal and Dom Pérignon, we can claim that Krug Vintage is one of the most excellent "regular" vintage Champagnes that Champagne has to offer. In fact, it may only be in real competition with Salon.

If you want Champagne of even more exclusive and rare character than this, you should look for the songle plot vineyard Champagne. Among the greatest Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Francaises^* and Billecart-Salmon's Clos Saint-Hilaire can be mentioned, but here too Krug is represented in front with the house's legendary single plot vineyard Champagnes; Clos du Mesnil and Clos d'Ambonnay.

Given the above, one can rightly get the idea of ​​whether Krug is actually the world's best Champagne house. We will never get a definitive answer to this question, but one thing is certain - among Krug's best Champagne lies a solid investment potential. An investment potential you now have the opportunity to take part in through Krug's unique Clos du Mesnil.

Read more about Krug in our investment tip from July 2019: We are celebrating Apollo 11 with an extraordinary Investment Tip on 2004 Krug Vintage

*The Bollinger VVF is technically not a single plot vineyard Champagne. The grapes for this Champagne come from two different plots in Aÿ, but are nevertheless considered to have characteristics that allow this comparison.

Extremely Rare - As Known From Burgundy

It's not much Champagne and Burgundy have in common besides being French wine regions. Burgundy is largely characterized by particularly small productions of single plot vineyard wines in single grape varieties. In Champagne, it is almost the opposite by enormous productions of millions of bottles, made from mixed grape varieties (often Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) from a vast number of vineyards.

With Krug Clos du Mesnil, however, the story is quite different and closely resembles something known from Burgundy. Clos du Mesnil is the name of Krug's monopoly vineyard in the town of Mesnil. Here, Chardonnay is grown exclusively, which is the only grapes used for Krug Clos du Mesnil, making the Champagne a Blanc de Blancs.

The Clos du Mesnil vinyard measures 1.84 ha, which gives an annual production of just 12,000 bottles, which only becomes the Krug Clos du Mesnil in the absolute best vintages. If the quality of the vintage does not meet the strict requirements for a Clos du Mesnil, then the harvest will accrue to some of Krug's other Champagnes.

To put accessibility and rarity into perspective, it can be mentioned that the production of BOTH Krug Clos du Mesnil AND Krug Clos d'Ambonnay^* are so limited, that the past 40 years of production does not even match the amount released in a single average vintage of Krug Vintage.

The rarity is not to be mistaken and even in the new vintages they are difficult to obtain, which is a significant proponent of the solid investment potential. But the quality also speaks a clear language and is a story unto itself.

*Clos du Mesnil's sister Champagne, sharing similar character traits

Which Vintage To Choose?

If you are considering the opportunity to invest in Krug's legendary single plot vineyard Champagne, you right now have three options: Invest in the 2002 vintage, invest in the 2004 vintage or invest in both.

By choosing the 2004 vintage you get the most recently released vintage of Krugs Clos du Mesnil, making this the cheapest Clos du Mesnil on the market. In addition, by two unpublished reviews, there is the possibility that this may become the highest rated Krug Clos du Mesnil ever.

By choosing the 2002 vintage you get a Champagne that is further in its life cycle and besides being closer to the perfect maturation, is also more difficult to find in the wine markets - in other words, this is a Champagne that is closer to reaching an age where we under normal circumstances see the biggest price increases. At the same time, the quality is towering and the 2002 vintage is among the best Clos du Mesnil ever produced.

We recommend investing in both vintages only if the investment is of a considerable size, as better conditions for resale in the long run are achieved, the greater quantities is offered. That being said, both the 2002 and 2004 vintages are particularly interesting investment cases and whether you are for one, the other, or both is a matter of temper.

RareWine Invest’s Opinion

Invest in Clos du Mesnil from Krug and get your fingers in something extraordinaire from the most exclusive shelf of the Champagne world – it is as simple as that. Everything that is luxurious and exclusive about the "regular" vintage Champagnes from the best and most recognized producers is simply taken to a new level when it comes to the most legendary single plot vineyard Champagnes - a category where Clos du Mesnil certainly belongs.

The extremely limited production of just 12,000 bottles, only in vintages that are good enough to become Clos du Mesnil, does not match demand, and these Champagnes are already difficult to obtain upon release unless one has the best connections at hand.

This is a great opportunity to secure investment in two of Krugs Clos du Mesnil's strongest vintages and at the same time secure the opportunity to offer perfectly mature Mesnil to the world's Campagne lovers in the future - something that is very difficult and extremely costly to obtain today.