A rich and dense Champagne with complexity and decadence, in a fresh and agile way. Very driven and energetic with praline, cooked apples and hints of honey. Some bread dough, but subtle and vivid. Very tight and focused. Racy and direct. Bright edition. Very fine textured. Youngest wine in the blend is 2011. Edition 167. Drink now.

Crafted around the 2011 harvest, the 167eme Grand Cuvee includes 42% reserve wines in the final blend that span more than 10 vintages, with 47% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay and the rest Meunier. Golden straw-colored, it boasts a lot of power and balance, leaping from the glass as it opens to notes of orange custard, toasted brioche, hazelnuts, and ripe peach. Full-bodied and expressive, it’s complete and long on the palate, with an exceptional tone offering a great deal of power yet refined with a pillowy mousse. Disgorged four years ago, this is highly compelling at this stage and worth getting your hands on. Drink 2024-2040. - Audrey Frick

The new release of Krug Grande Cuvée “167eme Édition” is stellar. The wine is from the base year of 2011 and utterly transcends that vintage, but, of course, it includes nearly two hundred different wines in the blend, with the oldest reserves dating all the way back to the 1995 vintage. Fully forty-two percent of the cuvée this year is made up of reserve wines. The cépages for the 167eme Édition is forty-seven percent pinot noir, thirty-six percent chardonnay and seventeen percent pinot meunier. The wine shows its lovely preponderance of pinot noir on the nose, wafting from the glass in a beautifully complex blend of apple, white peach, a touch of patissière, very complex soil tones, caraway seed and a gently floral contribution in the upper register from the pinot meunier in the blend. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, complex and nicely broad-shouldered, with great depth at the core, refined mousse, bright, seamless acids and outstanding focus and grip on the very long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. This is simply outstanding and should age effortlessly for fifty to seventy-five years!

Making its debut this year is Krug's NV Grande Cuvée 167ème Édition, a beautiful wine that wafts from the glass with aromas of yellow orchard fruit, peach and waxy citrus rind, complemented by complex notes of freshly baked bread, walnuts and smoke. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied and muscular but incisive, with a deep and concentrated core, a pinpoint mousse and a long, complex finish. Built around the 2011 vintage, the wine includes reserve wines dating back to 1995 and was disgorged in the winter of 2017-2018. Readers are advised to give it at least a couple years of bottle age before popping corks. - WK

The NV Grande Cuvée 167ème Édition, based on the 2011 vintage, shows just how much can be accomplished in Champagne through the art of the blend. This release includes 191 wines back to 1995 and a relatively low presence (42%) of the base year. But its the whole that counts more than the sum of the parts. In fact, I prefer this wine to the 2011 Vintage. All the elements are so nicely balanced. Citrus, white flowers, mint, white pepper and slate are some of the many notes that build in the glass. Disgorged: Summer 2018. Krug ID: 318036. -- Antonio Galloni

As its name indicates, this is the 167th blend of this producer's famed Grande Cuvée. Based upon an enviable range of reserve wines, the blend has maturity that is just right, balancing fruit as well as the toast. It is rich and ready to drink. - ROGER VOSS

This mouthwatering Champagne is intense, from the floral- and spice-laced nose to the racy frame of acidity to the expansive flavors of grilled nut, mandarin orange peel, black currant and coffee. Stands out for finesse rather than power, with an enticing finish that brings you back for another sip. Disgorged January 2018. Drink now through 2027. — AN

Edition 167 is a blend of 47% Pinot Noir, 36% Chardonnay and 17% Pinot Meunier; aged for just under seven years and dosed with 7 g/l of sugar. Despite the rather troubled ‘base’ vintage, the wine does not lack for power, its youthful exuberance evidenced by a rich golden colour and a precocious nose of vanillin, soft coconut and summer flowers, behind that spice, white pepper and hints of tropical fruit. Magnetic and seductive, this is a wine of great breeding and incredible potential. (Drink between 2019-2024)