Champagne houses push the boat out when they launch a prestigious product, writes Joe Breen
'Ladies and gentlemen, where other Champagnes end Krug begins," Fred Scarlett tells us at the launch of his company's latest vintage. Scarlett is business-development director at the Champagne house, which prides itself on being a cut or two above the rest - and charges accordingly.
He is English. Very. If Scarlett were a car he would be an immaculate Aston Martin, all sleek lines and purring engine. He sprays adjectives into all the right places, creating a mosaic of such daunting exclusivity that humbled are we who have been called to this dinner at Lyons Demesne, Tony Ryan's Disneyland-style version of an Irish mill village in Co Kildare.
Certainly, woe betide the blinged-out rapper who attempts to sully this carefully-protected brand with his sordid cash or the journalist who asks anything as gauche as how many bottles Krug produces each year.
But this is not Scarlett's gig: he is just the warm-up. The honour of the Irish launch of Krug's latest vintage goes to Jason Bowden, the Champagne house's new external-relations manager, fresh from 10 years learning the luxury-goods trade with the cognac house Rémy-Martin.
If Scarlett is an Aston Martin, Bowden is a top-of-the-range BMW four-wheel drive, his Manchester accent swerving around French pronunciation with ease as his colourful portrayal of Krug's 1996 vintage gathers pace.
We have been softened up with glasses of Krug Grande Cuvée, which is made from up to 50 wines from at least six vintages from Champagne's three grapes: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
This is the bread-and-butter Krug - although it is still a beautifully measured, complex and restrained Champagne, rich in nut and apple notes but fresh and light.
Bowden moves into high gear, extolling the 1996 vintage - Krug makes vintages only in exceptional years (the two before this one were from 1995 and 1990), releasing them only after they have spent at least six years in the bottle - with excitable references to "honeyed richness" and "candied lemons".
Then, with showbiz timing, he finishes. The brothers Krug, Rémi and Henri, keepers of the family's secret sparkler recipe, would be proud of him.
Even when set against the hype, however, the 1996 vintage is stunning, and you have to agree with Bowden's description of its taste. I doubt if even Krug's fabled single-vineyard Clos du Mesnil could be more impressive.
Whatever follows has to be a disappointment, so sympathy goes to the top new Argentine Cheval des Andes 2002, a joint venture in Mendoza between the Terrazas de los Andes winery and the St Émilion royalty Cheval Blanc.
The blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot just lacks that extra penetration and complexity that mark out the best from the very good.
And so we go back to slumming it with the Grande Cuvée - it is astonishing how quickly the extraordinary can become ordinary - before the limousines arrive to take us, Cinderella-like, home to reality.
Krug 1996 is available from selected off-licences and restaurants for about €200. Krug Grande Cuvée costs about €145