Liz Palmer Archives

Henri Krug [1937-2013]

Henri Krug, former director and chef de caves of Krug Champagne has died March 7 at the age of 75.

“Henri Krug’s passing is the disappearance of one of Champagne’s great personalities,” said Daniel Lorson, former communications director of the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC). “He knew how to talk about wines like none other. He had an exceptional talent for explaining the art of blending, and knew in simple terms how to define the Krug style.”

Henri was the fifth generation overseeing Krug’s production and management, along with his younger brother Rémi. The house was founded in 1843 by Johann-Joseph Krug. Though Remy Cointreau purchased Krug in 1969 and luxury goods giant LVMH took charge in 1999, the Krug family always remained deeply involved, working with a notable degree of independence.

Henri’s time at Krug began in 1962, at the age of 25. Following family tradition and in order to preserve the house’s distinctive style, he worked closely with his father, Paul Krug II, as well as his retired grandfather Joseph Krug II. In 1965, Rémi joined the firm, and their responsibilities were quickly and easily divided: Henri managed the vineyards and winemaking, while Rémi largely handled communications and business.
“We always said we were two sides of the same fruit,” Rémi told a French newspaper after his brother passed away. “He was calm, reserved, unassuming, modest and always ready to listen to other people.”

Though they worked side by side for many years with their father, Henri’s and Rémi partnership shaped the modern lineup of Krug Champagne. To begin with, they reintroduced the house’s prestige bottling in 1979 as the Grande Cuvée, packaging the wine in the distinctive, fluted bottle that is a hallmark of Krug Champagne today. Henri also formalized the tasting panel that works for months each year creating and blending the wine, as well as strengthening the house’s relationships with top growers in the region and their supply of high-quality grapes.

In 1971 Krug purchased approximately 15 acres of land in the village of Le Mesnil sur Oger, including the enclosed, 4.5-acre Clos du Mesnil vineyard. With an exceptional harvest in 1979 and the quality of the Chardonnay of this vineyard, the brothers eschewed Champagne’s tradition of blending multiple grape varieties and produced the 1979 Brut Blanc de Blancs Clos du Mesnil (98 points non-blind, $3,350 at auction), made from one grape, from one plot and one outstanding year. The wine has been an icon of Champagne ever since.

At roughly the same time, Rémi recognized growing market demand for rosé Champagne. Though their father was against the idea, the brothers felt strongly enough about its potential to secretly produce a rosé in 1976. After aging was complete in 1983, they served the wine blind to their father. Paul was sufficiently impressed that a rosé could adhere to the house style, and so a Brut Rosé NV was created.

The latest addition to Krug’s bottlings, the vintage Brut Blanc de Noirs Clos d’Ambonnay, owes inspiration to Henri as well. Henri’s son Olivier began working with the house in 1979, and following Clos du Mesnil’s success, Henri planted an idea in his son’s head, saying, “Maybe your responsibility is to find a Pinot Noir vineyard to be a little brother to Clos du Mesnil.” Krug purchased the 1.7-acre Clos d’Ambonnay vineyard in 1994, releasing the 1995 vintage (95 points) in 2009, for $3,500/bottle.

“He was a perfectionist who has been able to convey his passion and demand for precision to Olivier,” said Lorson.

Henri officially retired in 2002, but remained active with the house’s day-to-day work until 2007. Henri left the reins of Krug in the hands of Olivier, director of the house since 2009, and Eric Lebel, chef de caves since 1998.

Henri is survived by his brother Rémi, his wife, Odile, their five children and several grandchildren.

UK Remains Champagne’s #1 Market

Champagne exports across the globe has increased by 3.4% in value while the number of bottles exported fell by four million in 2012, according to the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC).
UK remains Champagne’s number one market, for the 17th year in a row. Amounting to 32.4m bottles; the UK is 6.1% down in volume but 0.5% up in value.

The increase in value was due to heavy spending from wealthy consumers of Russia and China living and visiting London. Restaurants, hotels, elite bars and clubs account for 30% of UK sales.

“We are seeing a new market emerging, as discerning consumers come and settle in London from developing Champagne markets such as China, India and Russia,” said Françoise Peretti of UK Champagne Bureau.
She pointed out that the value increase is due to restaurants, hotels, elite bars and clubs that account for 30% of UK sales.

“London truly is leading the way as the place to come and explore the best of Champagne’s diversity,” said Peretti.

Champagne Brands Eye China

Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger and other champagne houses could spearhead a move into China, in an indication of changing tastes.

Robert Beynat, chief executive of Vinexpo, was speaking to the Wall Street Journal following the publication of a new study.

99.5% of wine currently consumed in still wine. “The Chinese ignore the sparkling wines right now,” Beynat said.

He attributed this to a shortage of marketing by the champagne industry, and said leading brands would play an important future role in educating Chinese consumers about sparkling wines.

The overall growth in wine consumption in China is expected to slow to 39.6% over the next four years, compared with the 142% increase seen between 2007 and 2011.

Vinexpo expects 252m cases of wine to be consumed annually in China by 2016, up from 159m in 2011.

Beynat said the slowdown was a natural correction after the explosion in demand witnessed in China in recent years.

Nonetheless, he anticipated that the country would remain a growth story, as he pointed out China is expected to become the world’s sixth largest wine producer in 2016, ahead of Chile and Australia. “The more you produce, the more you drink,” he noted.

French wines still rule the Chinese market, accounting for around 48% of imports in terms of volume.

China’s per capita consumption is predicted to increase from 1.4 litres of wine per person to 2.1 litres over the next three years. This remains far behind France, the top nation on this metric, at 53.2 litres per person.

Source: AFP/Wall Street Journal

Project Champagne 2030

Growers and brand owners have recently united to increase the quality and value of Champagne through a project dubbed 2030.

Project 2030 was officially launched in December at a meeting of the Association Viticole Champenoise (AVC) to improve the long-term health of the region, both for those selling the wines, but also those working in the vineyards.

Tension between the producers and brand owners is common and is usually due to grape prices – Ghislain de Montgolfier has stated that Project 2030 had brought “communal targets” which will require both parties “to work well together”.

Speaking of the motivation for the project, he added, “We think that we have to protect the image of Champagne not just through the legal system but by increasing knowledge of the product, as well as the quality and sustainability.”

Further impetus for the project stems from a need to add value to Champagne. Although the region is approaching a production limit of 370 million bottles (based on an average yield of 12,400 kg/ha), margins for brand owners are declining.

Indeed, figures shows that between 1971 and 2011 the volume of Champagne produced has increased by 28%, but the value has only risen by 4%.
More particular, the average price for a bottle of Champagne has remained almost stable during the last three years, while grape prices have increased around 3% in each of the last three harvests.

Nevertheless, greater cooperative between the growers and the houses was confirmed by Pascal Férat, head of Champagne’s Syndicat Général des Vignerons.

In an interview with Drinks Business, Férat said, “The houses and growers share a common vision and objective for the region of Champagne.”

He also said, “Project 2030 is about setting up long term objectives for 2030 and the next generation, and I am very happy to open this file, even if I won’t see the end of the project.” Continuing he commented, “It’s about Champagne taking its future in hand, and about the presidents [of the unions for the growers and the houses] pushing the key leaders of Champagne to sit around the same table and decide the future.”

The project has a two-pronged approach according to Férat, with, on the one hand, a focus on the positioning of Champagne in global markets and on the other, an emphasis on how growers need to evolve and adapt to secure their position in the long term.

For the growers, Férat admitted that one core part of Project 2030 would consider the transfer of land from one generation to the next.

With the price of land in Champagne now averaging €1 million per hectare, the cost of passing on vineyards to the next generation is becoming prohibitively high due to inheritance tax.

Pascal Férat (left) and Ghislain de Montgolfier captured together for the launch of Project Champagne 2030.
Photo courtesy of http://www.lunion.presse.fr

Ghislain de Montgolfier, president of the Union des Maisons de Champagne (UMC) since 2007 – although retiring from the post this month – told the drinks business that the growers and houses “want to improve Champagne together.”

Source: Drinks Business

Hedonism Wines….In a class of its own

Liz Palmer, Tatiana Fokina, Michelle Cartwright, & Ryan Ebner

Hedonism Wines has launched – this new concept in fine wine retailing is located in Mayfair where fashion and luxury meet at 3-7 Davies St. London.

CEO Tatiana Fokina gave me a personal tour of the store detailing each area, she said:

“We are aiming to become the pinnacle of wine retail, providing first of all an exceptional level of customer service and a personal, concierge-like approach to every customer.”

The Wines and Spirits

Specializing in the world’s finest wines and spirits together, CEO Tatiana Fokina and management have employed UK’s top wine buyers to carefully source 1,500 spirits and 4,500 wines from each region of the world through producers, importers, auction houses and private collections. As a result Hedonism Wines is now home to some of the world’s classics.

The Design

Aside from the exquisite fine wines and spirits, Hedonism Wines has generated a name for itself in terms of design.

They have created a contemporary, innovative space to showcase their wines and spirits while offering an easy to browse environment.

Interiors were created by design heavy weights Universal Design Studio; featuring exposed brick walls, floor to ceiling glass cabinets and light is an integral element in creating Hedonism’s character. The sources of accent lighting and perimeter shelf lighting are integrated into the architecture so as to be imperceptible, allowing the visual focus to be kept on the wines and spirits.

Delivery and Availability

Delivery within the hour to central London areas is available via electric vans; delivery is also available to the rest of the UK and overseas. Hedonism Wines has pledged that should a specific bottle be unavailable and it is requested, the team will do their best to source the wine.

Hedonism Wines
3-7 Davies St. W1K 3LD
London, UK

+44 (020) 729-078-70