At Larrabee Studios, Krug Is Composed in Real Time
Producer Manny Marroquin hosts three September evenings where each cuvée is tasted, interpreted and written into an original piece of music
Krug has spent decades putting music next to the glass, most recently through its work with composer Max Richter. The next chapter moves that exchange into a room built for it. From 28 to 30 September, Larrabee Studios in Los Angeles opens Studio 6 to a small group of guests for The Art of Blending Krug & Sound, a dinner where the champagne is tasted, discussed and then turned into a piece of music composed on the spot.
Grammy-winning mixing engineer Manny Marroquin, who owns Larrabee, hosts each evening alongside producers Scott Tibbs, Nick Rosen and Mike Bennett. Guests taste through Les Créations de 2013, Krug 2013 and Krug Grande Cuvée 169ème Édition, and describe what each glass brings up. The producers listen, then translate those memories and moods into an original composition, live, inside a studio whose walls have shaped records by some of the most acclaimed musicians of the past several decades. The method mirrors the house’s own. A Krug assemblage draws on many individual wines to build one expression. Here, many individual reactions become one piece of music, and no two sessions can land on the same result.
“Larrabee has always been a place where creativity comes to life through exchange,” Marroquin says. “Partnering with Krug gave us the opportunity to invite guests into that process, where every conversation, every shared moment and every glass of Champagne becomes part of the music we’re creating together. No two evenings will ever be the same.” Guests supply the raw material, which is the difference between this and a listening session.
Larrabee has always been a place where creativity comes to life through exchange. Partnering with Krug gave us the opportunity to invite guests into that process.
Manny Marroquin, Mixing engineer and Larrabee Studios owner
Chef Oscar Torres of VERSE, Larrabee’s neighboring restaurant, cooks a multi-course menu for the evening, paired with Krug Grande Cuvée 173ème Édition and Krug Rosé 29ème Édition.
For Julie Cavil, Krug’s Chef de Caves, the sessions extend a question the house has been asking for years about how sound changes what we taste. “At Krug, pleasure and generosity are at the heart of everything we do. Music has this extraordinary ability to translate sensations and emotions into another language,” she says. “This encounter with Larrabee Studios invites each guest to bring their own interpretation, creating a singular dialogue between taste and sound that cannot be replicated.” Earlier collaborations put music beside the glass. This one puts the guest inside the score.
The three sessions run Monday 28, Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 September at 7PM inside Larrabee’s Studio 6 at 4212 Lankershim Boulevard in Los Angeles, each limited to an intimate group. Tickets are $474 per guest and can be purchased at exploretock.com/verse-los-angeles. Once the sessions close, VERSE and Mensano, Larrabee’s neighboring restaurants, carry the idea forward with a month-long Krug Grande Cuvée pairing by Torres built around the food and music from the studio.
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