Krug Champagne

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Looking at buying some champagne as a gift and my dad mentioned the make Krug. Does anyone know much about these and whether they are worth the price tag?

Currently looking at the Krug Grande Cuvée which can be had for about £100.

Also looking at buying some nice chocolates too, budget around £50. I don't want to go and get boring thortons chocolate but would like something different. Can anyone recommend?
 
I've always stayed clear of Krug at that price and preferred to go for the ultra dry Bollinger RD 1996/7. I'm not saying it's bad - just not my taste.

To give a comparison between the Bollingers I've had:
Curvee - well it bubbles, it's the bombastic unsubtle house style. Too unrefined for me.
Grande Annee 1997 (IIRC the year) - ~£60, had a couple of bottles of this and it's great tasting bottle, dry and packed with flavour but perhaps a little unsubtle which is the Bolly house style.
RD 1996/7 - ~£120-150, I've had two bottles of this and a third sits in my rack. It's bone dry, I mean really dry (it's defined as Extra Brut). It's a completely different beast to the others - more refined in it's taste with a matureness that leaves space for strawberries.
At a new years party girls preferred the cheaper sweeter £20 so that left me an a mate to drink this (he's a real wine nut and instantly recognised the bottle oddly he didn't drink any of the stuff he brought).

All that Cuvee means is it's a non-vintage bend to match the house style made up of all different vintages so that the taste remains constant over the years.

I'd expect krug to be on the neutral-intense area of the scale. Tattenger being very subtle (described as anaemic) at one end and Bollinger being bombastic full flavour at the other.

Is it worth it?
Well it depends on the person. People usually tune into a house based on their taste. Krug does have the "ooh it's Krug" as they stick with higher end prices compared to the ones you get in the supermarkets.
Question is - is the person a wine fanatic?
 
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Champagne is a very individual thing. I've only drunk a '90 Krug which is meant to be a pretty good example, but it's quite a rich flavour. Personally I prefer something smoother, Gosset and Duval-Leroy being my favourites.

Personally, if I was spending £100 on champagne I'd get a '96 or '95 vintage Duval-Leroy Femme de Champagne, in fact you might get two bottles for that if you're lucky. Tattinger Comtes de Champagne is very nice too - the 1998 vintage in particular I can recommend - it's a blancs de blancs so smooth, but will set you back around £100.

Of course there's always Dom Perignon, but I've never got round to trying that.
 
For chocolates you would do well to consider a box from William Curley. I believe they use Amedei chocolate for everything now. This box would fit your budget perfectly. To be honest, I would suggest going there as you're in Surrey anyway - sit down and have one of the puddings (the orange one is amazing) and then talk through all the chocolates with the nice lady who'll sort you out with an amazing box. If you go, pick up a bar of Amedei Chau chocolate whilst you're there as it's a great bar (and William Curley are the cheapest stockists for some bizarre reason).
 
£875 per magnum - ouch! :D

That must be clos de mesnil - I didn't pay anything like that amount!

For chocolates you would do well to consider a box from William Curley. I believe they use Amedei chocolate for everything now. This box would fit your budget perfectly. To be honest, I would suggest going there as you're in Surrey anyway - sit down and have one of the puddings (the orange one is amazing) and then talk through all the chocolates with the nice lady who'll sort you out with an amazing box. If you go, pick up a bar of Amedei Chau chocolate whilst you're there as it's a great bar (and William Curley are the cheapest stockists for some bizarre reason).

Second that - He's got an awesome reputation. Amedei Chau... om nom nom nom :D
 
Is there anywhere more in central london that sells that amodei chocolate? I'm gonna be in london on saturday with nothin to do so fancy picking some up :)
 
Moet is very famous in Champagne range and it's only about 35-50 for majority, depends on what you getting. I bought 1 with a lot of swaroski crystals on it for 50 quid from selfridges in London as a birthday gift to my missus. Totally worth it.
 
Is there anywhere more in central london that sells that amodei chocolate? I'm gonna be in london on saturday with nothin to do so fancy picking some up :)

Fortnum & Masons sell it. Go in the far right door and the shelf's almost in front of you (with the own brand stuff to your right). Last time I went in there though they'd changed their pricing and are now charging £8 a bar, when William Curley only charge £6.50 a bar. It's only 2 years ago F&M were charging £5 a bar :( . The Chuao and Porcelana are by far the best Amedei bar's though frankly F&M stock some very fine bars generally. I think Harvy Nichols might stock it aswell, but don't quote me on that.
 
I've tried Krug and Cristal and prefered the Krug dispite it being cheaper, I can also recommend Veuve Clicquot Vintage.

This stuff is really nice too and good value-

http://www.bbr.com/product-61647D-berrys-ukc-champagne-grand-cru-societe-de-producteurs-mailly

i agree with you here, Krug was ok but not worth the extra cash imo, I've not tried Cristal but Louis Roederer make it and I've had some of their lower priced variants and wasn't really impressed either. Veuve Clicquot Vintage has been my favourite out of all of the ones i've tried.
 
Fortnum & Masons sell it. Go in the far right door and the shelf's almost in front of you (with the own brand stuff to your right). Last time I went in there though they'd changed their pricing and are now charging £8 a bar, when William Curley only charge £6.50 a bar. It's only 2 years ago F&M were charging £5 a bar :( . The Chuao and Porcelana are by far the best Amedei bar's though frankly F&M stock some very fine bars generally. I think Harvy Nichols might stock it aswell, but don't quote me on that.

Cheers for that, to F&M I shall go
 
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