The taste of luxury
Fame is a strange thing. There are brand names we regularly drop into conversation to illustrate luxury, even though we've never even experienced them at first hand. We blindly accept that Ferrari makes great cars and a Rolex Oyster is better than a Swatch, but how do we know?
It's the same with wines. There are names that exude luxury, but what do they taste like? How did they acquire this reputation - and do they deserve it?
Take Champagne. This category has more "luxury" brands than any other. The essential point of top Champagne is about buying into an elitist, jet-set lifestyle, but while there are plenty of brands that can give you the Concorde experience, there's only one that's a private Learjet, and that's Krug.
Fermentation is the key
Krug's just different - in taste, looks and production. For a start, it's the only prestige cuvée that has its first fermentation in the barrel. This could explain its ability to age so beautifully - barrel fermentation allows the wine to come into contact with oxygen. It's this controlled oxidative handling that helps to preserve the wine in the long term.
Another secret of Krug's distinctive, rich, elegant, powerful style lies in the blending, and the age of the wines used. The "entry-level" Grand Cuvée can contain as many as 50 base wines of between six and 20 years of age, while Vintage can be made up of 30 base wines. Krug's status, therefore, can be directly attributed to its taste and its method of production.
But that still doesn't quite answer the question: why Krug? Champagne isn't exactly short on top-end brands, but none has the resonance of Krug.
Maybe it's the price. After all, this is a bloody pricey bottle of fizz. And no wonder - high demand for a relatively small amount of wine that's made by following an expensive and complex production regime will naturally push the price up. But the question still has to be asked, is it worth it?
When Krug's owner, Remi Krug, is asked this question, he replies: "When I go to Salzburg and hear a great concert, I won't be able to tell you the cost of the ticket, but I'll be able to recount every note that was played." In other words, the experience transcends such venal concepts as money.
"I want to put this whole issue in perspective," says Andrew Barraclough at Paragon Vintners. "The recommended retail price in the off-trade is £73 - you can spend that amount at a football match. It's your choice. It isn't a huge amount of money for a luxury item."
So people buy Krug not because it seems a more sensible way of spending £100 than spending a day out watching Spurs, but because it's a luxury. People buy Krug not just for its taste, but for what it says about them - but this is where things get a bit strange.
Krug doesn't have the profile of other prestige cuvées. While Dom Pérignon has a Stringfellows image and Roederer Cristal is about conspicuous consumption, Krug is more reserved. "It's entirely plausible that people buy Krug because of inverse snobbery," says Barraclough. "They choose it over other prestige cuvées because it isn't flash."
What's even weirder is that it's stocked in Tesco's and Sainsbury's Champagne selection. Is it there just to taunt us as we walk past with our baked beans? It's like having a rail of Gucci clothes in Asda. However, it's a cunning piece of marketing to show that Krug can be for everyone while giving a gilt-edged credibility to the retailer's selection.
It's the same on wine lists. When a brand such as Krug becomes an icon, it becomes both desirable and untouchable. Bizarrely, Krug's task is therefore to persuade people that they really should drink it.
"We would love more people to try it," says Barraclough. "It was the first prestige cuvée to launch in half-bottles, and now we're working with restaurants to sell it by the glass. People baulk at paying £90 to £150 for a bottle, but you can get people to try it if it costs £15 to £20 a glass."
The deeper you look at Krug, the more enigmatic and paradoxical it becomes. At the end of the day, maybe this is its secret.
