A wonderful starting point for this Odyssey Krug

Six Windows of the House opens on a theatre of stone and water, glowing mass of hydrangeas and cypress cut on the horizon. Only the song of the birds disorder this haven of peace suspended above the Lake mirror, the Lario, one of the favorite destinations of the wealthy from the Romans. Built in the 19th century by the Italian choreographer Filippo Taglioni, the elegant remains housed his daughter Maria, the first ballerina to wear spikes on the stage of the Paris Opera, and her husband, prince Troubetskoy, accused of conspiring against the Czar Nicholas I. Some cables from Como, Blevio, Villa Taglioni, lovingly restored by the Drullers family, is today one of the comfortable Italy private residences. A wonderful starting point for this Odyssey Krug.

A wealthy quadras hand sewn getaway. It is part of the new codes of contemporary luxury by the House of champagne as these "Krug Rooms", private dining rooms furnished in exclusive places like the library of the Lausanne Palace. These trunks picnic and these mini-malles-tasting Krug publishes series limited to a few connoisseurs clients. The way to its President, Rémi Krug, to accompany the positioning luxury brand. In this true to his grandfather Johann - Joseph Krug, founder of the House who decided in 1843 to attach his name to a unique champagne. Olivier nephew is guarantor of this stubborn perfectionism that made Marvel export where the mark is 95 of the turnover. "While we continue our relationship with our historical customers of outstanding personalities decided to chart their own course." "But in this world in full acceleration, we have targeted to new consumers who want to grow and multiply the unexpected encounters in usually inaccessible places," he says.

Krug Odyssey is designed to satisfy these promenaded of modern times who want to share unique moments with a few insiders. The approach is very remote from the traditional marketing mechanisms. The House does not open its address book to seek its good customers. Those who wish to live this experience and who can afford must move closer to her, as they would apply to one star to a dinner at home. A Krug Odyssey engages its participants in private and secret places to which the only money does not give access.

In the lush Park of the Villa Taglioni first Grande Cuvée plugs are time where the last rays of the Sun tints the facade of an orange light. "The more Krug of Krug, the timeless signature of the House.". High in small oak barrels, this wine is paradoxically the most affordable of our champagnes and more difficult to achieve. "This is a subtle combination of fifty wines from three grape varieties, from six to ten years of production," says our mentor Olivier.

Lake Como is still bathed in morning fog when the Riva split the deep waters to Tremezzo. Alternate villages of fishers and rich patrician homes along the banks. Hidden behind a myriad of roses and azaleas, they were built between the 16th and 19th centuries by ambitious prelates or offered to voluptuous mistresses. "These charming places point like this in the world have", wrote Stendhal, inspired by this sublime setting like other romantics.

And here is the Villa Balbiano, House of cardinal Durini in the 18th century. The current owner, Michele Canepa, who weaves of silk for Valentino and Gaultier in the family mill of Como, welcomed participants to the Odyssey Krug for a playful sensory experience (see box on page 112). "". "The tasting focuses on emotion to break the barriers of tradition and to forget the dictatorship of the grape", explains the House Nicolas Audebert oenologist with a hint of provocation. After a lunch in the Park, where saint-jacques caviar carpaccio sevruga and sages of foie gras and black truffle sublimate the aromas of the champagne, guests fly to Venice. Two hours of helicopter over a mosaic of Greens, the dark forest to the clearer for the vines that run almost to the lagoon. Tonight, the step is not an individual, but in a five-star, Bauer Palace, authentic Palace with Gothic facade that reflects Venetian opulence. Reinvigorated by its young owner, designer Francesca Bortolotto Possati, it exudes a refined atmosphere. Side channel, the suites are one of the most beautiful addresses, with a view of the serene.

The next day, ignoring the constant back and forth of the vaporetti on channels and flows of tourists to urge place Saint-Marc, or on the

Bridge of Rialto, the Krug Odyssey slips in the intimacy of the Venetians who perpetuate ancestral know-how and art of living. First stop on the Grand Canal in the prestigious workshop of Luigi Bevilacqua. Since the 19th century, his family woven velvet, Damascus and brocades for Royal palaces and presidential residences around the world. He also became the supplier of Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Gucci. Another private visit on the island of Murano in the master-verrier Antonio Seguso metamorphosis fireballs in unique pieces for Cartier, Versace and Valentino, according to scholarly alchimies transmitted by his grandfather.

The city fleet in diaphanous light

In his own way, Mauro Stoppa maintains the maritime tradition with the Eolo, the last bragozzo lagoon armed fishing until 1960. The boat has benefited from luxurious accommodation to host day cruises. While the city of the Doges and his Rosary of Islands seem to float in diaphanous light, the Eolo cast anchor in a narrow channel near which is about a few egrets. In the shadow of the canopy, Krug Rosé flows flow to accompany an assortment of dishes Venetian fish-based. In its pale pink dress, revealing notes of wild berries, spices and floral essences, it balance between intensity and freshness, as the peace under the effect of the breeze.

The supreme luxury of the Venetian is to possess a small green space, fragile splendour on an Earth saturated with salt. A paradise where ancient rose bushes to offer performing on the Grand Canal. At the foot of the Palazzo Papadopoli, ownership of the Princess Bianca di Savoia Aosta and her husband, the count Giberto Arrivabene Gonzaga, bloom floral flower beds from which emerge some muses stone. The dark, a trio interprets Vivaldi the four seasons in this delicious illuminated garden. The time is ideal to enjoy the sublime Clos du Mesnil vintage 1995, the rarest Krug home since it is developed from a single grape variety, chardonnay, from a single square and a single crop (see limited No. 48, page 58). "". "It is a dogmatic contradiction," admits Remi Krug who departed from the fundamental rule of the Assembly. He added: "If one considers the terroirs as musical instruments, the masterpiece may also well translate into a concerto by a Symphony!" Lit up by dozens of candles, the grand staircase of stone led to the first floor in the sumptuous Gallery Tiepolo. Here expected us a dinner by candlelight, accompanied by large Opera Arias sung by a tenor and a soprano. Paints frescoes and gilded stucco mirrors give all his magic this place out of time. In the glasses, the opulent vintage 1988 and 1989 deliver their fullness.

Ultimate Venetian foray on a roof-terrace, from where the view on the Grand Canal evokes a Canaletto. It is apartment-l'atelier de Marie Brandolini, designer of glass which belongs to one of the largest families of the city of the Doges. This nest of greenery between heaven and Earth lends itself to a vertical tasting, a surprising discovery of vintages Collection, from the youngest to the oldest. Rémi chose the Collections 1982, 1971, and 1973 last bottles of vintages of anthology of incredible freshness, confirming, as stated in Reims, a "Krug never dies".

Rich in surprises, unexpected sensations and encounters a Krug Odyssey is a unique and superlative experience. "There is a size in all the madness, a force in all excess", wrote Baudelaire. This could be the motto of the Krug!

Krug, 5, rue Coquebert, 51100 Reims. Tel.: 03 26 84 44 20.

Cost of a Krug Odyssey: from EUR 100 000 for eight to ten people.

BOX .

Champagne excites the senses

To Villa Balbiano, sensory tasting is organized in four steps around a Grande Cuvée, a Rosé and a Vintage 95. Participants must first bring each of these champagnes from a family of flavours represented by a series of ingredients (spices, chocolate, toasted brioche, red fruit...) concealed in of shakers. They must then identify it to proposed fabrics: silk, velvet, linen, cotton... Comparison with material equivalent to the texture in the mouth. Then they must bring the wine to a musical genre: jazz, soul music, rock... Last step, the artistic as the champagne is a developer of emotion. Using pencils, felt, paint to water or acrylic, tasters "interpret" their own preferred on a canvas. The result is often surprising and attest that everyone feels a wine according to its own sensitivity, his experience, his memories.