Champagne and you ?

Champagne inevitably brings me back to my formative years. The rolling hills, the wine-growers cultivating the vineyards, the refined science of blending... Champagne stands for a unique experience - one like no other - where joyful people are gathered for sharing

Your first sip of Krug ?

I was given a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée during a tour of the United States, and I enjoyed it one evening as I watched the sun set over California. It was a great moment.

Krug and music ?

The taste of each Krug Champagne reveals its own unique identity - an invitation to set off on an imaginary journey - and it immediately brings to mind a musical interpretation that might take on a great variety of expressions.

Your favorite piece of music for each Krug Champagne ?

Krug Grande Cuvée immediately makes me think of Daphnis et Chloé, part II. From the outset, the instrumentation is like a profusion of colors (the glints of champagne in a glass). It reveals a great deal of distinction (delicate aromas), a subtly refined orchestration (an effervescence of micro-bubbles against the palate), a unique expertise (Ravel was a perfectionist in his craft), and also a kind of synchronicity: an encounter between the composer's genius and the nature that he captures so well. The conclusion of the work represents a revelation, like the epiphany of this great champagne.

Krug Rosé 

Albert Roussel's Bacchus et Ariane, part II. A symbol of authenticity, like a Champagne's purest natural expression. Its aromatic intensity is forthright and its expression is lavish. The same can be said of this piece's orchestration: it is rich in dense, mysterious descriptive nuance.

Krug 2003

Brahms, Symphony No.4, 3rd movement. The evocation of warm hues and deep autumnal shades on a scorching late-summer evening, like the brass and string sections in this symphony. Sunlight bursts forth from the depths of nature with scintillating flavors.

Krug 2002

To me, Symphony No.6, Tchaikovsky's 3rd movement, summons up the triumph of nature itself with its flamboyant, colorful orchestration: a kind of certitude, a tribute to creative genius. The pinnacle of expression. 

Krug Clos du Mesnil 2002

Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto, 1st movement. This champagne evokes the musical concept of the concerto. Here is a soloist pushing a violin into its highest register to bring out notes that are the acoustic equivalent of pink grapefruit. The musical language of this work is tense. It takes flight, rising from a round structure. Likewise, craftsmen weave their expertise and virtuosity into the very fabric of the wine.

Krug Clos d'Ambonnay 2000

Richard Strauss, Four Last Songs, No. 3. The voice is profound and multi-faceted. The wine is also deep, meandering through its flavors, but also forthright and direct: the sincere expression of the land with which it naturally identifies.