Krug plans next move to 'kill the flute'

Krug’s chef de cave Eric Lebel has said he is fully in favour of writing the flute out of Champagne drinking history, and he hinted that the house may launch a new glass for its rosé.

Eric Lebel told Decanter.com during the Krug World Festival that the LVMH-owned producer may launch a rosé Champagne glass in partnership with a wine glass manufacturer.

Krug launched its Le Joseph glass in 2012, named after the house’s founder and created by Riedel.

There is a growing list of Champagne houses with bespoke glasses as part of a broader revolt against the flute glass, which has been the default choice for serving sparkling wine since taking over from the coupe several decades ago.

Lebel said the ‘kill the flute crusade’ was alive and well at Krug. He said the ‘outdated’ stemware should be left for inferior sparkling wines.

Krug’s CEO, Maggie Henríquez, has previously said that drinking Krug from a flute ‘is like listening to opera with earplugs’.

Lebel said that Austria’s Riedel was ‘not necessarily’ the choice to make the Krug rosé glass, but he described the Le Joseph glass – created to ‘enhance the experience’ of Krug’s Grande Cuvée – as a ‘perfect collaborative innovation’.

He said that process took 18 months, where 27 glasses were reduced to seven in trials, and finally three prototypes were made.

These were then tested on sommeliers and the Krug winemaking team, who ensured the glass would not only concentrate aromas and flavours and enhance bubbles, but that it was easy to clean and not too fragile.

‘It’s always good to have new innovation in the pipeline,’ said Lebel. ‘We have one excellent glass but we can’t stand on that success only. There might be a better one.’

Invited media at the Krug World Festival also got the first taste of Krug’s Clos du Mesnil 2002 and Krug Collection 1990. The blend of the 171st edition of Grande Cuvée was also announced, but it won’t be released until 2022.