KRUG REIMS CHAMPAGNE.

[shaun]

Hello everybody,
please could someone out there give me some info on some champagne I found on my loft.
There is one 71 KRUG,FIVE 73,PLUS A 66 of the same.
Any info would be much appreciated.

[Innkeeper]

Hi Shaun, and welcome to the Wine Board. My guts say this one may be over the hill, but frankly it is way out my league. If someone more knowledgeable than I doesn't come along soon go down to the bubbly thread, and find a posting by Tom Stevenson. Then e-mail him your question.

[Botafogo]

Two possibilities here:

A) those are original issue Vintage Krug and if they have been stored properly (a "loft" in London is not a 120 degree attic like here in LA, right?) they could be great.

B) they could be recently disgorged and released "Krug Collection" bottlings in which case they could be friggin' amazing, again assuming good storage.

Which brings us to

C) why do all the phone calls _I_ get along these lines involve Wente Brothers' Green Hungarian from the 50's or Beaujolais Nouveau from the Ford Administration Inaugural Party?

and

D) WHO in the hell "forgets" a half a case of Krug when they move?

Je Krug, donc je suis, Roberto
(I Krug, therefore I am.... I actually have a T-shirt that says that)

[tomstevenson]

Like Roberto I wonder "WHO in the hell forgets a half a case of Krug when they move?". I am also wary of attics, even in the UK. Contrary to common belief we do get the odd few hot days. It's currently hotter here than Hawaii (touching 30/86 and one day hit 37, that's 98.6 in your money) and we get one real long-hot summer and one freezing cold winter every 10 years, so that could be at least three hikes up and down in an attic. I don't recommend it anywhere, although, having said that, I'm on record a number of times about the occasion when my great aunt came around a few years after my book CHAMPAGNE was published. She presented me with a bottle of Moet NV, which she assured me had been in the attic at least 14 years because my great uncle had been dead that long and she didn't know when he'd put it there. With that track record including the record summer temperatures of 1976 and the wine just a non-vintage, I tried to let her down gently. When I tasted it, however, it was one of the finest preserved NVs I had ever come across. So the moral is never to give up hope, but hope is all, I'm afraid, keeping these wines alive.

Open and HOPE to enjoy!

Tom

[Bucko]

**Wente Brothers' Green Hungarian from the 50's**

I almost spewed 95 Swan Frati Zin on the screen with this comment. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]

Bucko

[chittychattykathy]

Tom!!! So good to hear from you! CCK

[Botafogo]

Bucko, I have encouraged the grandaughter in law of one of the founders of Wente to open a shop at LAX (the airport) that ONLY sells Green Hungarian as every 250 lb female wrestling fan in stretch pants from Nebraska tells me, "I had a favorite wine but I can't find it anymore, Wente Brothers' Green Hungarian, do you carry it?".

Can't make this shit up, Roberto

[shaun]

Thanks to Botafogo and Tomstevenson for replying so soon, I don,t use a computer in my line of work so have just read your reply,s.
I should have said in my questions that my mother in law died 5 years ago ,and she was given the bottles by the late Sir Joseph Nickerson of Rothwell,Linconshire.Who until he died had a large mansion house in the village where we live .Marion cleaned and somtimes cooked for him and his shooting partys in the grouse shooting season.
Anyway enough of this history lesson , HOW MUCH ARE THE BUGGERS WORTH !

[Botafogo]

Beauty (and value) are in the eye of the beholder, open one and tell us what you think they are worth. Yes, they would sell (in mint condition and full cases) for hundreds of pounds but Henri Krug would be the first one to tell you that mere money is a poor substitute for Krug!

[shaun]

Thank you Botafogo for those wise words, I might just try one If I win the court case with my neighbour over acsess over our land. And I,ll enjoy It all the more knowing that It.s something a bit special.Thanks once again ,signing off now to go and enjoy the start of our village carnival.
Oh yes and the pub,s open!
bye bye for now.