97 points La Revue du Vin de France: "The 173rd Edition is marked by the delicate texture inherent in 2017, its base vintage, which is slender. This balanced and caressing wine seems to us to be more open at this stage than the 172 Edition, which has additional depth and tension and needs more time. (2026)"

97 points Falstaff: "(2017 base) Bright golden yellow colour. Intense flavours of ripe yellow stone fruit, pineapple confit, crème brûlée and almond paste, complemented by fresh brioche and lemon curd. Full-bodied on the palate with a very fine acidity. Chalky-salty notes and fine tannins lend structure. Youthful, savoury freshness and lemon confit merge into opulent, woody-spicy elegance. Long-lasting pleasure. Alcohol 12.5%. (9/26/25)"

96 points Wine Spectator: "Vibrant and rich, statuesque yet graceful, this lovely Champagne offers an expansive range of patisserie apple and pear fruit, grilled macadamia nut, lime and tangerine peel notes, with fragrant saffron, clove, espresso and mineral accents. A lithe, focused spine of lemony acidity and an underlying streak of salinity are enmeshed in the flavor profile, and the fine, satinlike mousse carries everything on the long, mouthwatering finish. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier. Disgorged winter 2023–2024 (Krug ID 124003). Drink now through 2040 (9/10/25)"

96 points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): "The Krug Grande Cuvée “173ème Édition” is founded on the harvest of 2017. As is so often the case with this iconic bottling, a significant percentage of the blend is composed from Krug’s formidable collection of reserve wines, with this release of Grande Cuvée including thirty-one percent reserve wines dating all the way back to 2001. Interestingly, the final cépages for 173ème Édition nearly mirrors that of the 169ème Édition, as the blend this year is forty-four percent pinot noir, twenty-four percent chardonnay and twenty-two percent pinot meunier. It was finished with an Extra Brut level of dosage of four grams per liter. The bouquet is beautiful, wafting from the glass in an utterly refined constellation of apple, pear, pâtissière, chalky minerality, orange zest, just a touch of buttery oak and a topnote of fruit blossoms. On the palate the wine is bright, precise and full-bodied, with a beautiful core of fruit, lovely soil signature, a fine girdle of acidity, elegant mousse, perfect balance and a long, vibrant and very, very complex finish. This is a bit more youthful tightly-knit out of the blocks than the Grande Cuvée 172ème Édition, as it does not have the same foundation of ripeness of the 2016 vintage, but it is every bit as complex and will just take a few years to stretch its wings and take full flight. Not that it is hard to drink right out of the blocks, but this is one iteration of Grande Cuvée that will really deserve to be tucked away in the cellar for a few years to allow it to start to show its complete potential. 2028-2075. (May/Jun 2026)"

95 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous): "The NV Grande Cuvée 173ème Édition, based on the 2017 vintage, is every bit as exceptional as it was the last time I tasted it a few months ago. Beautifully textured, the 173ème offers a captivating mix of floral and tropical notes, with gorgeous richness and fabulous balance. Time in the glass softens the mid-palate nicely. Drink: 2025-2045. (Apr 2026)"

95 points Jeb Dunnuck: "The NV Champagne Grande Cuvee 173eme Edition is bright and mineral-driven, crafted around the 2017 vintage with 150 wines from 13 vintages back to 2001. It offers notes of wet stones, custard, lemon rind, honeycomb, white peach, and citrus blossom. Full-bodied, it has power and finesse, with mineral texture and a long-lasting finish. It has fantastic spice as well in this edition, and it has excellent underlying acidity and tension with a great savory finish. Olivier Krug commented on the warm weather of 2017, noting that they were keen to pick on the early side in this vintage and were finished with their harvest when many others had just begun. Disgorged in early 2024. (9/2/25)"

94 points Kristaps Karklins (Wine Advocate): "Krug’s recently unveiled NV Grande Cuvée 173ème Édition—accounting for approximately 80% of the house’s total production—performs well, particularly considering the challenges of the base vintage, 2017. That year saw considerable rot pressure in red varieties, making meticulous sorting essential; some lots deemed unfit for Krug’s standards were even diverted to distillation. The conceptual cornerstone of the Grande Cuvée is the use of the house’s vast library—drawing from some 500 options—to complement the base vintage and moderate the extremes of any given growing season. The 173ème Édition comprises 150 wines across 13 vintages, with the 2017 base making up 69% of the final assemblage. Disgorged in January 2024 with a dosage of 4.5 grams per liter, it opens with aromas of pear, golden apple, lemon curd and early white blossoms interlaced with a distant hint of nutmeg. On the palate, it is medium- to full-bodied, textural and charming, laden with tangy acidity and animated by a pillowy mousse, and it concludes with a long, saline finish. Compared with its immediate predecessor, the 173ème Édition is broader and more giving, while the 172ème Édition tauter and more incisive. As experienced Krug aficionados will recognize, the inclusion of reserve wines—which may have undergone malolactic fermentation—renders the Grande Cuvée more immediately approachable than the house’s vintage-dated Champagnes, offering a more generous drinking experience on release. Drink: 2025-2038. (7/10/25)"

94 points Tom Hewson (Decanter): "Krug's Grande Cuvée 173ème Édition is crafted around one of Champagne's most traumatic harvests of the past 20 years in 2017, where rampant rot and lack of maturity forced extreme sorting at harvest time. It's exactly the sort of year that plays to the house's strengths in its reserve wine library and pixelated, parcel-by-parcel vinification, though. Together with 31% reserve wines dating back to the 2001 harvest, it's a relatively forward Grande Cuvée, but not overly marked by the challenges of the year. There's a juicy apricot fruitiness evident up front, enlivened by some brightness of ground pepper and charred grapefruit peel, with aromatic details of green coffee and a food-friendly dried mushroom savour following in the glass. The softened, cushioned mousse is already feeling nicely settled, complementing the sense of roundness and ease. There's plenty of cooked lime Chardonnay focus pulling the palate into some length and intensity, even if the quantity of Chardonnay in the blend is not perhaps as high as might have been expected considering its relatively strong performance in the year; the reserves, too, bring a delicious length and intensity to the otherwise up-front palate. This edition may be pitched for earlier drinking than some, but will provide fine gastronomic possibilities in the meantime. Drinking Window: 2025-2032."