1998 Krug

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? (JR)

Tasted blind. Disgorged October 2007. Meaty and interesting. Savoury and very dry. Tight texture but with lots of evolution on the nose. Bone-dry end. Sweet and more delicate than most. Magnum? No, it's the bottle! (JR)

47% Chardonnay, 37% Pinot Noir, 16% Pinot Meunier – unusual for Krug to be Chardonnay dominant but it was very successful in this vintage. Dosage 6 g/l. Disgorged Dec 2007. Mid gold. Very yeasty nose, the most toasty so far in this line up of 04s and 98s, lightly honeyed, chamomile, dried fruit, buttery baked apples. Delicious aromas and so different from the DP 98. Broad but surprisingly tart on the palate. As if the flavour and the structure have started to diverge with the acidity starting to spike. Tart aftertaste. (JH)