This bottle left the cellars to receive its cork in winter 2013-2014. This is the last step after over 10 years of ageing in the cellars gaining finesse and elegance.

At the House of Krug, each vintage is created to reveal the expression of a year’s unique character; a year with a special story to tell, captured uniquely by Krug. There are as many stories as there are Krug Vintages.

2003 was indisputably, a year like none other in Champagne with premature blooming, serious frosts and extreme heat. Called Vivacious Radiance, Krug 2003 is an adventure of sun-drenched luminosity, unexpected freshness, delicious intensity and astonishing finesse far from preconceived ideas about a year of extreme heat.

The creation of Vivacious Radiance, the story of 2003 according to Eric Lebel, Krug’s Chef De Caves.

“The year 2003 was truly unique with particularly challenging circumstances, an eventful year for Champagne.

We had a dry winter and spring, an early bud break followed by two serious frosts which meant significant losses, especially of many Chardonnay grapes. Then August was a record-breaker with average temperatures of 28.5°C, ten degrees above the seasonal average!

We had our first harvest on August 23rd, the earliest since 1822, but the extreme variations in ripeness throughout the plots meant we could not set harvest dates for each village, as is usually the case in the Champagne region. Thus, the harvest continued in waves until early October. A year of three such extremes was unheard of in living memory…

At the end of harvest we had small yields, healthy grapes, an expected over-ripeness but also an unexpected under-ripeness; the vines protected themselves from the intense heat by stopping their maturation. We discovered this because we respect the individual expression of every plot; nature’s beauty and strength at work in the fields. Nurturing this individuality meant we found surprisingly fresh, aromatic and balanced wines with very vivacious fruit.

Personally, I am delighted with the varied blend of Krug 2003 because it tells our story; it reflects the challenges we faced. It includes a higher quantity of wines from black grapes than usual and thus also a smaller amount of Chardonnay (29%); these were used discreetly because they gave plenty of aromatic richness.

Expression and vivacity comes from the wines of the parcels of Meunier (25%) from villages such as Sainte Gemme, Villevenard and Courmas. The Pinot Noirs (46%) with their lovely structure and body - from the south and north-facing slopes of the Montagne de Reims - add balance and freshness.

After a decade gaining finesse in the cellars, Krug 2003 can be enjoyed now or for many more years to come. As with all Krug Champagnes, Krug 2003 has a very high ageing potential and will gain with time.”

Eric Lebel, Chef de Caves, Maison Krug