The House of Krug, LVMH’s highest-end champagne brand, has just debuted the restoration of its centuries-old family estate (now the brand headquarters, grand salon, cellars, and tasting room) in Reims, which is in Champagne country outside Paris, after a two-year renovation. For more than 150 years, the Krug Maison was home to founder Joseph Krug as well as many generations that followed. The property, in the family for six generations, hadn’t been touched in decades and had fallen into disrepair.
Though no longer a residence, the structure now features spacious outdoor gardens, a dining room overseen by Michelin-starred Chef Arnaud Lallement , a tasting room for visitors, a wine cellar 15-meters below the ground, and a grand salon. The intimate Le Salon des 400 Vins and library is lined with 150 reserve wines and 250 wines of the year (there are bottles dating back as far as 1880), which, when combined, create each blend of the label’s annual Krug Grande Cuvée release.
The dining room with cherry rugs, walls, and accents. This is where guests may experience Chef Arnaud Lallement’s pairings with Krug champagnes.
The Library, a great place for an after-dinner cocktail to conclude an evening.
“The major challenge was to regroup the four separate houses, each of them with its own architectural identity, into one area organized around a central garden,” says French architect and interior designer Stephanie Ledoux of the firm AW2 , which oversaw the project. “We wanted to refurbish the place with a homogenous architecture without erasing traces of its history.”
The Grand Salon, showcasing the original notebook of founder Joseph Krug, where guests are welcomed to the house.
The materials and finishes are simple and natural: local limestone and oak parquet floors, a warm beige color palette with pops of the brand’s signature dark cherry color (used strategically for sofas, doors and rugs). “Dark cherry is the historical color of the brand, which comes from Joseph Krug’s original notebook expressing his vision for the house,” says sixth-generation family member Olivier Krug, who grew up on the grounds. “It’s a tailor-made Pantone for us.”
Le Salon des 400 Vins, lined with 400 multicolored, spotlighted wine bottles to form an audiovisual representation of the 250 base wines and 150 reserves that help to create each blend of Krug Grande Cuvée.
A tasting area in the Petit Salon for more intimate wine tastings.
The dining room, for one thing, features bespoke, wall-mounted glass panels carved/inlaid in a gold pattern by artisan glassmaker Claire Pegis and coffee tables by Mos Design and Mater Design sit alongside a vintage chest, dining table, and chairs. The lighting scheme features a mix of Foscarini and Fortuny floor lamps, Quasar suspensions and Dedar fabric sheer blinds which offer glimpses of the lush greenery below.
Joseph Krug’s 1848 notebook in the Grand Salon, underneath his portrait.
The Krug Maison, as seen from the street.
While the cost of the renovations were high for the house above ground, even this many millions cannot compare to the value of the bottles resting below in the caves. 5 Rue Coquebert, 51100 Reims, France; krugom
