Krug Champagne Brunch with Olivier Krug

Glass of Bubbly, Champagne & Sparkling Wine Magazine
Issue 1, June/July 2014

Recently a handful of sommeliers and wine writers joined Olivier Krug, 6th Generation and Maison Director of Krug Champagne, for a five-course pairing menu at San Francisco’s St. Regis Hotel.

As we sipped a gingery, floral and creamy Krug Grande Cuvee, paired exquisitely with Dayboat scallops carpaccio with vanilla olive oil emulsion and citrus gelee, Olivier explained that even non-wine experts can come up with twelve words to describe this extraordinary Champagne.

Beau soleil oysters with Vintage Sabayon and black pearls was lovely with the 2003 Krug Vintage Brut, a tarry, spicy, earthy Champagne – Krug didn’t produce Clos d’Ambonnay in 2003 so this rich, old vine Pinot Noir ended up in the Vintage Brut.

Bomba Calasparra rice “paella” with jumbo prawns in a shellfish nage was delicious with the 2000 Krug Vintage Brut, with notes of honey, crème fraiche, hyacinth, peach, and ginger ale. Olivier described this wine as “rich but not intense.”

A newly released Krug Grande Cuvee based on the 2003 vintage was more savory than the original, and had gorgeous chalky and autolytic notes of brioche and egg custard; spot on with A la plancha Seared Alaska Halibut with fingerling potato and braised fennel gratin.

Not surprisingly, the richest Champagne of the day was the Krug Rose, paired with Seared maple leaf duck breast with roasted maitake mushroom farro and a huckleberry gastrique. The berry gastrique streamlined right into the red berry notes of the wine and the earthy notes of the duck and the Champagne worked beautifully together.