Reviews & Scores
I loved the 1990 Krug, which shows the richness and power this cuvée is known for. Offering a medium gold color and rich, full-bodied notes of brioche, toasted nuts, and crème caramel, it’s deep, concentrated, and evolved, and ready to go
JD95February 2018
1990 is one of my favorite vintages ever for this storied cuvée because while the vintage was on the riper side the high yields allowed the fruit to retain a very good level of acidity which made for balanced and ageworthy wines. While I have had the pleasure of tasting the '90 on a number of occasions since its release, the last time was alongside the 1985 and the 1988, and as admirable as those two vintages are, the 1990 is head and shoulders above them to my taste. The fantastically complex nose is comprised of an abundance of yeast and toast characters that don't completely dominate the essence of apple, pear, citrus, spice, acacia blossom and discreet orange peel scents. There is equally good depth to the delicious, full-bodied and powerful flavors that possess a lovely sense of vibrancy thanks to the still firm but fine mousse that shapes the delineated, delicious and impeccably well-balanced finale. In my view 1990 is one of the greatest vintages for this wine of the last 25 years and one that is still drinking well. While there is no additional upside development to be hand, neither is there any rush to drink up as this should continue to hold effortlessly for years to come.
BH97October 2015
The 1990 Krug is a big, old-fashioned and powerful vintage of Krug that is just beginning to drink well, but clearly still has decades of life ahead of it. The deep bouquet offers up notes of rye dough, apple, lemon, caraway seed and kaleidoscopic minerality. On the palate the wine is very full-bodied, crisp and rock solid to the core, with a firm girdle of acidity, great focus, and a very, very long, minerally and palate-staining finish. While the wine is blossoming at age fifteen, it clearly will continue to improve with further cellaring, and really would be best off with another four or five years of hibernation before tackling it with gusto.
JG95November 2011
Initially restrained, brooding nose exploded with aeration, showing apple, orange, apricot, honey, iodine, smoke, hazelnut, macadamia and a suggestion of dry oloroso sherry. Dense, full, chewy and rich; an extraordinarily solid Champagne with an intriguing suggestion of Calvados. Broadens toward the back and goes on and on on the echoing aftertaste, with rich, mellow notes of toffee, brown butter and marrow. Like the '92 Clos du Mesnil, this displays its powerful underlying acidity with aeration (Krug's wines never go through malolactic fermentation) and should be long-lived.
ST97December 2004