2002 Krug Brut Blanc de Blancs Clos du Mesnil Grand Cru

Krug's beautifully citrus colored 2002 Blanc de Blancs Clos du Mesnil (ID 415068 - disgorged IV/2015) shows a deep, complex, very clear and precise if not ethereal bouquet with citrus aromas intertwined with chalk and noble brioche notes in the background. Pure, profound and vibrantly fresh on the palate, this is a straight, athletic, very intense and expressive yet highly elegant and finessed Clos du Mesnil with a unique fresh fruit character! The 2002 reveals a great mineral structure and chalky texture on the palate. The highly complex, energetic finish reveals bracing freshness and vitality as well as the charm and creaminess from the vinification in barrels and possibly the dosage wine that seems to boost the Krug style. While terroir wine is the result of hands-off winemaking, Krug's Clos du Mesnil is perhaps a very particular Krug Champagne—it has great quality, style and complexity that is the result of the winemaking and the addition of the dosage wine. How the Clos du Mesnil would taste if farmed biodynamically, picked later and dosed with nothing but itself is a pointless question, but it hasn't left my mind since I tasted the paradoxical 2002, which is terribly fresh on one hand and also has this unique Krug reserve style. Nota bene: This doesn't include the hypothesis that the wine could be any better. It would just be different and surely less "Krug," which is not what we really want, do we? Tasted April 2018.

Very lively, taut and willowy. Very long and lean and vital. Sort of electric energy. Blackcurrant-leaf flavours. (JR)

The 2002 Clos du Mesnil is wonderfully pliant and expressive in the glass. The radiant personality of the year comes through in the wine's ripe, tropically-leaning flavors and open-knit personality. I imagine the 2002 will develop at a relatively fast pace by Clos du Mesnil standards. Even so, there is more than enough freshness underpinning the fruit to support at least two decades of very fine drinking.