Krug and Bollinger Bubble Over With Pride in the Champagne Market

There are similarities between the two men responsible for the two Champagnes I like best, and the first and most obvious is personality.

But finding a single word or phrase to describe the demeanors of Remi Krug and Christian Bizot is difficult. At first, I felt the perfect word was gasconade, which emanates from the ancient French district of Gascony and which, like the people of that region, refers to a bit of arrogance.

But arrogant these men are not. Perhaps smug comes closer, though that implies a kind of distance, and neither are they distant or remote. Both merely exude confidence that they make the world’s most perfect sparkling wines, exceeding all others. This fairly flows from their faces as would bubbles from a Champagne flute.

What you see, then, is a paternal pride at the accomplishments of their regimes.

The fact is that Champagne Krug of Reims and Champagne J. Bollinger of Ay represent more than just my personal favorite houses in the world of bubbly. They also represent, historically, two of the most esteemed properties in the world of wine, and, remarkably, have remained so despite economic pressures and demands of a fickle and changing marketplace.

It is a marketplace that has elevated Dom Perignon, that fine and full-bodied sparkling wine of the house of Moet and Chandon, to pre-eminence among many of the world’s wine consumers. “DP,” as some call Dom Perignon, commands a high price and today is made in large quantities to supply demand worldwide.

Yet, when I first tasted Krug and Bollinger, the moments became etched as a moment in memory.

Taste of Tradition

British author Cyril Ray in the introduction to his excellent book, “Bollinger, Tradition of a Champagne Family” wrote:

“Almost . . . invariably, if I asked the maker or agent of one of the great Champagnes what wine he would drink if he did not drink one of his own, the answer would be either Krug or Bollinger. . . . These two small but immensely distinguished houses (are) universally recognized as producing wine of quite outstanding character by sticking stubbornly to traditional methods of vinification and by paying the highest prices for grapes--by always, in short, putting quality first, whatever the cost, in money, in time, in labor, or in anxieties.”

So, clearly, a touch of smugness is to be expected if these two men joyfully note, without arrogance but with deft accuracy, that their best wines are the best sparkling wines made in the world.

The fact is, they usually are.

Another fact, unfortunately, is that the wines of these two masterful producers are not cheap. The least expensive wine Krug offers is $70 a bottle. Bollinger offers a wine (Special Cuvee) at a more moderate $22.

Even those with no understanding of great Champagne will like the house style of Krug and Bollinger. Both produce wines that exhibit the rich, full-bodied taste that only long-term aging in the Champagne cellar can produce, along with lingering flavors of maturity and depth that typify Champagne at its best.

Upper-Level Prices

At the upper price levels, Krug and Bollinger make wines priced with Dom Perignon. And to me, these are utterly magnificent wines that consistently rate well above DP in terms of pure enjoyment.

“People remember the first time they ever drank Krug,” said Remi Krug the other day, and I recall my first experience, a day in 1977, well enough. That first whiff was intriguing, that first sip a revelation.

I immediately tried to compare it with Dom Perignon or Roederer’s famed Cristal, which until then were my standards for great Champagne, and I realized this was a whole new experience.

Recently, Bizot, president of Bollinger since 1978, mused over the comparison so many people make with the Champagnes that are accorded the biggest headlines and those of his own lesser-known house: “DP and Cristal, they are drunk by the trendy people, those who want to prove their social status. Our R.D. is consumed by wine lovers. These are usually not merely wealthy people who want to show off.

“I do not mean to say that Dom Perignon and Cristal are not good. They are very good, but our R.D. is very special and simply not as well known.”

The R.D. stands for Recently Disgorged, meaning that the sediment left after completion of the wine’s second fermentation, carried on inside the bottle, is removed only after the wine has aged for many years.

It is this sort of wine that gives Dom Perignon a run for its money. The recently released 1979 Bollinger R.D., which sells for about $80, is one of those remarkable experiences that shows off the house style of racy, spicy fruit and deep, complex flavors to perfection.

Krug, which is now sold in a proprietary thin-necked bottle, also offers a house style that stamps it as unique and special. I was particularly impressed with the Krug Grande Cuvee, the wine without the vintage date that sells for $70.

After sipping it recently with Remi, he sat back and said, “Krug is a demanding mistress.” He commented on the fact that the wine in question had no vintage date and was the least expensive wine in the line.

“Ah, yes, but it’s perhaps harder to make this than the others,” he said. “This wine is made to be the same consistently, so we have to blend it to a certain style. And non is a poor word, so we don’t call it non-vintage. We prefer to call it multivintage.”

The Final Blending

Krug keeps track of older wines held back for blending, and when the final blend of the newest “multivintage” Grande Cuvee is being put together, it uses wines from numerous years.

“There are six to 10 vintages used in the Grande Cuvee, so that’s why we call it multivintage,” said Krug.

“This bottle,” he said, pointing to the latest release of the Grande Cuvee, “has in it no wine less than 6 years old, and there is some wine in here that is already 16 years old.”

The depth and richness of both the Bollinger and Krug wines is due in large part to the fact that both houses are among the very few that still ferment the grape juice in oak barrels. Almost all other houses, and especially the larger ones, now ferment in stainless-steel tanks to protect the wine from oxidation.

But Bollinger and Krug prefer a method that “pre-oxidizes” the wine, intentionally giving it a slight amount of air early in its life, to insulate it from oxidation later, in the bottle.

“By barrel fermenting, we vaccinate the wine against later oxidation, which is necessary because we want the wine to age in the bottle at least five years before we release it,” said Krug.

Bollinger said his barrel fermentation program lasts about nine months, during which time the various lots of wine are evaluated and placed in different areas of the winery preparatory to the final blend. Krug’s wine stays in barrels “from the harvest until mid-May, but the difference between fermenting in oak and in a tank can be seen in two weeks.”

One last point of differentiation: Bollinger ages its Reserve wines in magnums, cork-sealed, until it’s time to put them in 750-milliliter sizes for the consumer. Aging in the larger bottle gives them a special and unique character. And both houses age their wines longer on the yeast than do most other houses.

Prices for the two houses’ wines differ because of supply. Both are in demand. Krug makes but 40,000 cases, Bollinger (which gets 70% of its wine from grapes it grows on its own vineyards) produces about 110,000 cases.

Remi Krug couldn’t leave our interview without a comment about Champagne pricing at restaurants. He thinks it’s far too high worldwide.

“Krug sells extremely well because we have loyal consumers, but I don’t like seeing it sold in restaurants at three times wholesale,” he said. “I very much encourage people to keep their prices moderate, because it sells so quickly. It’s possible (for a restaurant) to buy Krug on a Monday and sell it on a Tuesday and have the money in the bank before you have to pay the supplier for it.

“For that reason, I think the pricing for Champagnes in restaurants should be very moderate. It’s nonsense to treat markups on Champagne the way you treat the markups on wine.”

Most importantly, he pointed out, almost all Champagne is ready to consume the day it’s released, so there’s no need to age it further.

Memorable Aftertaste

The best wines in the two lines are magnificent. The 1981 Krug ($90) has a nutty, creamy aroma and a deep, complex aftertaste. Bollinger’s 1975 Annee Rare ($80) has an aroma that the British call biscuity, a wine of immense depth from its Pinot Noir base, but with classic richness and nuttiness in the finish.

Both houses make even better and more expensive wines. Krug offers older selections called Krug Collection, the 1969 and 1961 of which are available. And Bollinger’s 1979 Vielle Vignes remains in my memory as the best bottle of Champagne I’ve ever consumed.

Alas, to use the word available about them is a little misleading since neither wine is at your local wine shop. Dedicated and wealthy wine lovers can, however, arrange to get a bottle or two.

Wine of the Week: 1987 Sinskey Pinot Noir ($14)--This small Napa Valley producer, which has Joe Cafaro as its wine maker, has vineyards in the cool Carneros region of the Napa Valley and this wine is a gem that shows the region’s capabilities. A fresh berrylike fruit aroma leads to a marvelous silkiness of nutmeg and other spices in the aftertaste.