It takes time to give life to a Champagne, it’s well known. Krug took all the time necessary – seven years, to be precise, the length of the refinement in the cellars of an Édition of Krug Grande Cuvée – to develop tailor-made solutions, respond to any critical issues that arose along the way, satisfy specific needs and give shape to Joseph 2.0, his new “home”. What opens today is a new chapter of a Maison, but above all of the dream from which, thanks to the visionary intuition of Joseph Krug, it came to life in 1843. However, what the new Krug production center located in the heart of Ambonnay, right in front of one of its famous Clos d’Ambonnay, represents is much more than a cutting-edge structure: “It is an act of transmission”, as the Chef de Caves, Julie Cavil, on the occasion of our preview visit, where the investment promoted meant identifying exclusively the best for every aspect in a vision that had as its horizon not only the work of today, but also that of the future.
Inside Joseph 2.0: WineCouture takes you to the new home of Maison Krug in Ambonnay
“Being able to offer the best Champagne in the world, year after year, regardless of weather variations”: this has always been the belief that has driven Maison Krug. A reality that has made the art of assembly and the search for maximum pleasure in the glass the cornerstones of an architecture that in over 180 years has led it to the Olympus of Champagne.
“Perpetuating Joseph Krug’s dream into the future means respecting his key principles with the tools and resources of today and tomorrow,” underlines Julie Cavil. And this is how the project for the new Joseph winery, started in 2017, took shape.
The new headquarters in the heart of Ambonnay centralizes all winemaking activities, from receiving the musts to bottling. A true “Paradise” in terms of innovation for those who make wine, capable of offering ideal conditions for wine production, both for the people who work there and for the environment.
The new Joseph 2.0 site, we can say, allows those who work daily in the cellar to have all the tools available to best adjust the melody and tone of each score, or the different cuvées that from the orchestra to the soloist define the Maison’s range. With one click, for example, thanks to the Krug Black Book app it is possible to obtain a detailed profile of each bunch harvested or vin clair made. “This project is similar to creating a concert hall with ideal acoustics, in which we can audition our wines,” explains Julie Cavil. “The perfect place for music and for those who interpret it”.
In the heart of the Montagne de Reims, it is unmistakable music that refines the terroir of Ambonnay, a historic cru famous for its unique character and the exceptional quality of its Pinot Noir vineyards. A corner of Champagne that is a constant source of inspiration for Krug, who chose it for his new “home” precisely where in 1994 Henri and Rémi Krug identified the second Krug soloist to accompany the famous Clos du Mesnil. Joseph 2.0, in fact, overlooks the rows of the Clos d’Ambonnay.
With an extension of approximately 9,500 square meters of total surface area and eight independent cellars, five underground winemaking plants and 330 individual tanks designed by the Italian company Defranceschi, the new center provides the best possible conditions for tuning instruments and expressing every note, before to orchestrate them in the inimitable music of Champagne Krug.
“Our priority is excellence, created by the passion of all our staff who came together to carry out this extraordinary project,” underlines Manuel Reman, president and CEO of Maison Krug.
And it is a real human adventure guided by the talents of Krug and all those who supported them – architects, engineers and craftsmen – that can be felt within the walls of Joseph 2.0. “People are the heart of the project. The venue was designed by and for its users,” highlights Julie Cavil.
Each phase of the construction of the new production center has been meticulously studied, with the desire to blend harmoniously with the village of Ambonnay, but also to develop an overall review of daily procedures, improving habits, overcoming limits and identifying every possibility of optimization. In particular, operations at height have been eliminated, with the creation of more ergonomic access to the barrels, reducing the need to move them to a minimum. As a result, the available space of the headquarters has doubled compared to its initial size.
Comprehensive tests and trials carried out over the last seven years then led to the choice of gravity for racking, as well as independent temperature and hygrometric controls in each of the eight cellars. The barrel cleaning procedures have been standardized and the tools are now mobile, adapting to the man and the actions he must carry out.
With Joseph 2.0, Maison Krug has created a tailor-made structure in symbiosis with the natural environment and with those who experience it on a daily basis, giving future generations, already today, the necessary tools to continue to orchestrate an immortal dream and to celebrate the most generous expression of Champagne.
