Cover Isabelle Bui, winemaking development manager at Krug and a member of its tasting committee (Photo: Krug)
Isabelle Bui, winemaking development manager at Krug and a member of its tasting committee (Photo: Krug)
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At just 30, Isabelle Bui is already helping shape the future of Krug Champagne. As winemaking development manager and a member of the house’s tasting committee, she moves between the vineyard, the cellar and Krug’s global partnerships, guided as much by instinct as by analysis
At just 30, Isabelle Bui, winemaking development manager at Krug, already sits at the heart of one of champagne’s most storied houses. Meet her in the tasting room or walking through Clos du Mesnil, and what comes through is not bravado but focus—someone who listens closely, to the wine and to the people around it. Her path began far from any grand cellar. Raised in the Aube, she spent her teenage summers working in vineyards simply to earn money, before realising she was more interested in what was happening in the vines than in her pay cheque.
“I never came from a wine family,” she says, “but working in the vineyards, talking with the growers, I became fascinated with viticulture.” That curiosity soon turned technical. “I became obsessed with food chemistry,” she adds. After studying food science engineering, she went on to earn France’s National Diploma in Oenology, determined to stay in Champagne and become a winemaker.
Her route to Krug was not straightforward. She sent a cover letter to Julie Cavil, now Krug’s cellar master, asking for an internship. At first, the answer was no. “A few months later, she called me and said, ‘We are looking for a new winemaker, and I still have your cover letter on my desk. Should we have an interview?’” Bui joined the maison at 23, not because she had the sharpest palate, but because, as she was told, “their primary aim was to find someone who shared the same philosophy and passion for terroir and excellence.”
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Above Julie Cavil, Krug’s chef de cave who hired Bui at the age of 23
Julie Cavil, Krug’s chef de cave who hired Bui at the age of 23
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From her first day, she became part of Krug’s tasting committee, a group of six that meets daily at 11am to taste blind. “It is very democratic,” she says. “We have an equal share of voice regardless of age. We don’t know the grape, the year or the grower—we just talk about what we feel.” Differences of opinion are not just accepted, but encouraged. “If I taste apricot and you taste strawberry, or if you like a wine and I dislike it, that’s okay. If there is any doubt, we taste it again next week.”
The rhythm of her work shifts with the season. In peak blending months, the committee spends up to five months tasting hundreds of still wines—around 250 from the latest harvest and another 150 from Krug’s reserve library. “We taste 15 wines a day, always blind,” she explains. “We start when the wines are still in barrel and quite shy, and we follow how they open up.” By March, Cavil presents several blending projects for the next Grande Cuvée, which the committee tastes and selects together, “by a simple show of hands.”
Alongside this, Bui also carries responsibility for Clos du Mesnil, Krug’s storied walled chardonnay vineyard. “A few years after I joined, I was given the keys,” she says. “I am based there during the harvest, managing the picking dates, the teams and the press. It is a huge responsibility, and I try my best not to fail.”
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Above As a member of the tasting committee, Bui and five other members sample hundreds of still wines at blind tasting sessions
Above Beyond the cellar, Bui works with Krug’s global community of nearly 200 chefs and ambassadors to bring initiatives to life
As a member of the tasting committee, Bui and five other members sample hundreds of still wines at blind tasting sessions
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What guides her, as much as data, is taste. She recalls a recent vintage when lab analysis suggested the grapes lacked acidity. “But tasting the berries gave a nice balance,” she says. “We followed our intuition, which was later confirmed with the still wines.”
Beyond the cellar, Bui also works with Krug’s network of nearly 200 chefs and ambassadors worldwide, including through the maison’s Krug in the Kitchen programme, which this year focuses on the carrot. “It’s so rough and common—everyone has one in their fridge,” she says. “Pairing it with Krug creates a nice contrast. It shows that while Krug is for special occasions, it’s also wonderful when shared over something simple.”
For someone so young, Bui speaks with quiet assurance about a job that demands constant judgment. “Every year is a new challenge because we work with nature,” she says. “No two years are the same.” And perhaps that is what defines her role at Krug: listening carefully, tasting widely and trusting her own sensitivity when it matters most.
Credits
Images: Krug
Dudi Aureus is the senior dining and travel editor at Tatler Singapore, covering the city’s most exciting restaurants, global travel trends, and the personalities shaping the culinary and lifestyle scenes. She also serves as co-jury chair for the Tatler Best awards in Singapore, celebrating the very best in hospitality. When she’s off duty, she can often be found at a favourite hole-in-the-wall Thai spot, savouring a perfectly balanced pad thai.
