Notes of Violins, a Waft of Woodwinds, and a Piano Flourish

We were taken on a musical journey with Champagne Krug at the Tokyo premiere of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Suite for Krug in 2008.

- LAUREN TAN

It’s not every day that a champagne house invites you to a symphony. Much less the hometown premiere of a Ryuichi Sakamoto composition played by 37 musicians, pausing between movements to allow waiters to serve the specific cuvée that is the movement’s source of inspiration.

But Krug is no ordinary champagne producer.

Whereas others issue tasting notes of supermarket items — citrus, green apples, cream, Brazil nuts, brioche — as a shorthand for consumers, Krug’s Clos du Mesnil 2008, Krug 2008, and Grande Cuvée 164ème Édition come with a complete soundscape. Music, as they say, is an intuitive universal language.

“Champagne aims to offer the most pleasurable experiences, and it’s difficult to talk about pleasure without music,” Oliver Krug, director of the maison, explained to guests conveyed to the cavernous Terrada Warehouse in Tokyo, which was transformed for the occasion. Cellar Master Julie Cavil, he added, likens her craft to that of a conductor. “She’ll tell you that her job every year is to audition musicians with the aim of creating beautiful music.”

Over an 18-month period during the pandemic, Sakamoto, who won an Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy for The Last Emperor (1987), repeatedly tasted the three emblematic 2008 cuvées and face-timed with Cavil, translating emotions, tasting notes, and approach to craft into the threepart Suite for Krug in 2008. Members of his team were also sent to Reims to record the sounds of Krug, from the vineyard to the silence of its cellars.