HAPPINESS UNCORKED

The people of Champagne know how to party, as PAUL EHRLICH finds out, flute by flute

I DIDN’T KNOW where to start. Literally. I didn’t know which of the six long and rapidly filling-up buffet tables spread out in a building as large as a train station I should visit first. The dithering had already cost me seats at two of the closest. I made my way through a crowd bathed in ruby-red ceiling lights, and queued behind three French bombshells decked out in expensive designer clothes, artfully holding glasses of champagne. They exemplified the beautifully groomed and turned-out men and women at the House of Krug party recently held in Paris’ magnificent École des Beaux-Arts.

Under the soaring, glass-ceilinged marble gallery of the nearly 200-year-old building, Krug assembled six top-ranking international chefs and gave each a different Krug champagne for which to create an accompanying main course and dessert. While champagne is perfect as an aperitif or to celebrate success and moments of joy, it isn’t a wine most often associated with a meal. Or is it?

The cuisine-champagne combo was celebrated throughout the Bacchanalian night, as guests strolled from table to decorated table clasping constantly topped-up flutes. A roving female tenor saxophonist played jazzily, while another gal sang on a small stage. And what emerged is proof – if proof is needed – that champagne is wonderful with a properly conceived meal and delightfully refreshing as a drink afterwards, as I found out with my first dish: tea-smoked guinea fowl and foie gras in a cep and spiced chestnut sauce, served with a 1998 Krug. This creation came from one of Britain’s top chefs, Angela Hartnett – a protégée and close colleague of Gordon Ramsay – who has been collecting awards since 2004, with her Italian roots influencing her modern cuisine at her Michelin-starred London restaurant Murano.

Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong’s Executive Chef Uwe Opocensky, who oversees the hotel’s private Krug Room, served foie gras moulded into meltingly delicious chicken bones with a mix of ceps, trompettes de la mort and chanterelles, accompanied by a robust 1995. “For me Krug is more than champagne,” said Opocensky. “It has the perfect balance to be the company of my food or vice versa. Krug creates the feel of refreshing the palate and makes it perfect for tasting menus as you always want another glass of it.”

The Krug creation from Tim Raue, who likes to give his dishes an Asian accent in his eponymous Michelin-starred Berlin restaurant, featured hamachi sushi, green curry and ginger with a dessert of lemon, shiso and jalapeño; the combined spicy and sweet notes swirled nicely with the creamy fruit of the Clos de Mesnil. Brazilian-Japanese chef Tsuyoshi Murakami, who with his Sao
Paulo restaurant Kinoshita introduced that city to the Japanese kappo-style dining in which customers sit facing the chef, offered tuna and scallops with miso and soy sauces, assorted mushrooms and okra in a lime cup, served with an iconic Grande Cuvée. (Later that night, he improvised a song dedicated to the House of Krug).

Also partnering with Grande Cuvée was the youngest Michelin-starred chef in France, Arnaud Lallement, who cooks at his family restaurant L’Assiette Champenoise in Reims. He dished up grilled turbot with vin jaune and gnocchi that also was a flavourful match.

Sao Paulo-born Roberto Okabe, meanwhile, didn’t renounce his Japanese roots, making his Milan restaurant Finger’s popular with its combination of Japanese and Brazilian influences. The Alaskan black cod with orange went well with the Krug Rosé but was a trickier partner with the dessert of blackcurrants, raspberries and chocolate; the somewhat pungent fruits slightly overwhelmed the complexity of the wine, which Krug has been producing since 1983.

After the late-night event in which a sky full of stars mirrored the spinning stars in my head, I found myself the next day on a morning train to Rheims to visit the House of Krug with François Mateo, business development manager for the company. Mutually fortified with espresso, we talked about how the company evolved, where it’s going and the best time to pop a cork.

The Krug family has been running the company since it was founded by Joseph Krug in 1843. Today, Olivier Krug is the sixth generation member of the family to oversee the house, of which Margareth Henriquez is president. In a private notebook recently found in the Krug archives, Joseph Krug recorded his vision for the company: “To become remarkable through the excellent quality of our wines.” Mateo agreed: “Our goal is to put in the glass the maximum amount of pleasure.”

And this includes a growing market of pleasure-drinking consumers. Mateo said the Hong Kong market knows how to celebrate pleasure. “People are thirsty in many ways, including how to be more knowledgeable about fine wines. And Hong Kong people know how to enjoy life. He or she is the kind of person who buys a bottle of champagne and doesn’t store it for long periods, but looks forward to sharing it with friends. Even vintage wines. They make the occasion by opening a bottle rather than waiting for one. In the United States, by comparison, they often buy to collect. But you can save it for a day that may never come.”

Japan is also an important market. China, Brazil and India have huge populations but high tariffs limit sales, yet there is “growing potential” for all three, said Mateo. (In late November, a Chinese buyer splurged on 12 cases of Krug champagne at Christie’s international autumn sale in Hong Kong. The Krug — 144 bottles in all — went for $1.2 million. The winning bidder also received a first-class trip to the winemaker’s cellars.)

When we arrived at the House of Krug, I thought it would be a palace or, at least, a knockout mansion. But the heart of Krug is a set of rather plain red- and cream-coloured brick buildings…more a working place. Yet that made sense, for function is all; this is where a dynasty has produced the most expensive and exclusive champagnes.

Why is it so highly prized? “We stay loyal to our traditional values and methods,” said Olivier Krug. “We are not a drink to be splashed around. Each bottle of Krug captures the best elegance and taste. Krug is about tasting the best, and enhancing it. It is a champagne that brings happiness. The blending is an art. There is no formula, only taste and the memory of taste.”
Krug doesn’t consider any of its champagnes better than another or hold back its best grapes for the vintage or special cuvées.
That’s because its entire production is small, just 0.2 percent of the Champagne region’s production. “All are given the same red carpet treatment, and all are composed with the same attention,” said Krug.

In making champagne, time is a major factor, and Krug takes plenty of time. The champagne is made from a mix on Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes handpicked from Krug’s own vineyard – the Clos du Mesnil – and a small number of ones in surrounding villages. After the pressing, in deep underground brick cellars, the product is aged for at least six years in small, 205 litre oak casks made from trees at least 200 years old. Krug is the only premier champagne house that still ferments all of its wines this way, compared with other big champagne houses that use stainless-steel vats for this stage in the process. The result gives Krug champagnes their unique and complex taste.

The most expensive and rarest of Krug’s wines is Clos d’Ambonnay, a single-vineyard vintage; Clos du Mesnil, too, is from a single vineyard, and there are blends of the best wines from a single year. The maison’s signature is Grande Cuvée, which takes 20 years to make a single bottle of the next label. It entails blending seven to 10 different vintages – with the oldest wine being 15 years old –plus three grape varieties, six years of ageing and 800 to 1,000 taste-test samplings. And pale salmon-coloured Krug Rosé is a relatively recent addition to the range.

And when is the best time to uncork a bottle? “How long can you resist,” smiled Mateo. “How long can you wait? It’s bloody good to drink, not to be vulgar. Champagne is to be shared, to be enjoyed, to make even an everyday moment seem special. Why wait for something special when it can be whenever you want it.” How can you top that?