Krug and Max Richter unite to honour Champagne's superb 2008 vintage through music

What happened

Krug has joined forces with composer Max Richter to produce a musical tribute dedicated to Champagne's 2008 vintage. The collaboration, announced on 21 October 2025, brings together one of Champagne's most distinguished houses and a composer of considerable international standing, with the express purpose of honouring a year widely regarded as superb for the region.

The project represents a deliberate convergence of two distinct artistic disciplines — the craft of champagne-making and the art of musical composition — united by a shared subject: a single, exceptional harvest.

Why it matters

The 2008 vintage occupies a particular place in Champagne's recent history, recognised by producers and connoisseurs alike as one of the finest years the region has yielded. To mark such a vintage with a commissioned musical work rather than a conventional retrospective is a statement about how the culture surrounding fine champagne continues to evolve.

For Krug, a house with a long-standing commitment to the idea that each vintage tells its own story, the decision to engage a composer of Richter's calibre underscores that conviction. The collaboration suggests that the language used to interpret great champagne need not be confined to the cellar or the tasting room, but can extend into the concert hall and beyond.

More broadly, the project reflects a growing tendency within the fine wine world to seek cultural partnerships that articulate what words and scores alone struggle to convey — the character of a year, the particularity of a place, the passage of time in a bottle.

Context

Champagne's 2008 vintage has attracted consistent acclaim since the wines began to be released, with the region's cool growing conditions that year producing grapes of notable precision and longevity. Krug, as a house that releases vintage champagnes only in years it considers truly exceptional, has long been associated with the careful stewardship of such harvests.

Max Richter is a composer whose work spans orchestral, chamber, and electronic forms, and who has previously engaged with themes of memory and time — qualities that resonate naturally with the world of aged champagne. The precise form the musical tribute will take has not been confirmed in the available information.