Egly-Ouriet New Release Champagnes

Egly-Ouriet has been long celebrated for making some of the very best wines in Champagne; integrating purity and precision within richness, roundness and deep concentration to create age-defying champagnes that bristle with magic. The latest releases from Egly-Ouriet demonstrates how this famed grower is looking even more spectacular under the gaze of Champagne's most recent vintages.

The latest releases from top Ambonnay based grower - Egly-Ouriet - all come with a July 2023 disgorgement. It's a rather insightful, if not rare, reference point from which one can take a closer look at Egly’s base (or vintage) years and how they are developing, against each other, within the context of terroir and style - that's if you can afford it.

The recent shipment of Egly-Ouriet wines into Australia now commands an eye-watering price that seems somewhat escalated beyond the fragility of our exchange rate and freight pressures. For Egly's fabled Grand Cru V.P. you won't get much change out of AUD$400 nor AUD$1100 for their Millésime 2014, which now means these champagnes are in an aspirational category for many. Still, these are wonderous champagnes, so deserving of their reputation, with a cult following who are unlikely to baulk at the price. 

All of Egly's latest releases have come from years that Francis Egly believes are his finest yet. 2018 and 2019, upon which most of the releases are based, are two of these but also the lesser celebrated years of 2017 and 2016 from which he has crafted stunning wines defying vintage reputation.

Good material from good land, so maniacally attended to, is not only what makes Egly arguably the leading grower for Pinot Noir in Champagne. These are sensitively crafted champagnes of the highest order, inspired by a man whose own sensitivity to every touch point in the winegrowing and making process can be felt in the glass.

There’s a paradox at play across every champagne, where purity and precision from protective winemaking intersects with controlled oxidation. It’s complex and brilliant, but only possible with great responsiveness and intuition.

Egly pushes ripeness far – very far – to more than 11 percent potential alcohol and concentrates flavour, by cultivating old vines and low yields. Freshness is upheld in the cellar with slow pressing and long and cool fermentation using barrels for Grand Cru fruit and stainless steel on Premier Cru. There is no fining or filtration and malolactic fermentation is blocked in warmer years. Reserves are ample – accounting for up to 50 percent of the non-vintage blends – but used young, going back just two or three years prior. Long elévage in barrel of up to one year, then again at least 3-4 years in bottle for non-vintages, lends further complexity but also reduction and longevity to achieve Egly’s hallmark style which is always finished off with extra brut dosage.

A respect for the origins of fruit, sourced from 14 hectares, means there’s little blending between parcels located in different villages, with the exception of the Brut Tradition NV and the Grand Cru NV and Grand Cru VP, though the latter two rely heavily on Ambonnay fruit.

Francis Egly is arguably Ambonnay's finest grower, where he tends to 8 hectares located on chalky south to south-east facing slopes where “you can grow Pinot on Chardonnay soil” from which he extracts all the lightness and propensity for elegance from the fruit.

The terroir is quite different to the deeper soil profile in neighbouring Bouzy where there are 0.3 hectares and the fruit profile is heavier and more powerful. A little way up the Montagne de Reims, in Verzenay, there are 1.7 hectares. Collectively, Grand Cru is represented by 80 percent Pinot Noir and 20 percent Chardonnay. There’s also 2 hectares of Meunier to the west of Reims in Vrigny where the soil is decidedly sandy rather than chalky, producing noticeably fruity and briny wines for the astoundingly good and salivating Les Vignes de Vrigny.

The most recent vineyard additions include Premier Crus Bisseuil (near Aӱ) and Trigny (within the Massif de Saint-Thierry), the fruit from which have now become champagnes but at a more digestible price point. The former is heavily planted with Chardonnay, which is reflected in the blend of the eponymous cuvée, and possesses the concentration and elegance you might expect from the Grande Vallée. Fruit from Trigny goes into Egly’s newest champagne, Les Prémices, comprising equal proportions between Chardonnay, Meunier and Pinot Noir to create a notably fresher take on Egly’s style.

Even in these newer parcels, with quite different terroir, Egly's masterful stroke of the hand brings the domaine's signature to each blend. This is good for all of us, because it will keep one of Champagne's most coveted growers accessible, at least for now.

Chardonnay, Meunier, Pinot Noir in equal parts. Fruit sourced from the Massif de Saint-Thierry and more precisely from the village of Trigny. 50% 2019 base year, 30% 2018 and 20% 2017. Dosage 1g/L.

Of all the champagnes made by Egly-Ouriet, this is probably the least like their signature style.

Notwithstanding this, it’s a fine champagne – many I know prefer it – because of its lighter touch. There are bright citrussy fruits and white florals to start then a spritz-like character that brings additional energy to what is a tightly knit acid profile. Yet there is great concentration of flavours here, revealing subtle richness. The finish is bone dry and of medium length.

100% old vine Meunier, coming exclusively from Vrigny classified as 1er Cru. 50% 2019 base year, 30% 2018 and 20% 2017. Dosage 2g/L.

I am a huge fan of champagnes from this premier cru village, located west of Reims and adjacent to Gueux where Jerome Prevost’s legendary ‘Les Béguines’ hails from. The wines seem remarkably elevated in their expression, but always underscored by a textural brininess.

The 2019 base of Egly-Ouriet’s Les Vigne des Vrigny is dominated by a soft salty character in what is otherwise a delicious profile based on ripe fruits – namely stonefruits - dried pear and savoury spice.

70% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Noir and 15% Meunier. This cuvée has been fully vinified in barrels and aged in the cellar for four years before disgorgement. 50% 2019 harvest, 60% 2018, 20% 2017 and 20% 2016.

From a lesser-known terroir, located between its more famous neighbours, Aӱ and Tours-sur-Marne in the Grande Vallée, comes a wine that delivers a strikingly powerful and immediate deliciousness charged with high acidity. Somehow, Egly manages to compliment this with a creamy effervescence, imparting a great deal of elegance. I love its golden fruit character – honey glazed peach and yellow apples - and just a little marzipan. It finishes satisfying long leaving behind a fine chalky trail.

70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. 60% 2018 harvest year, 20% 2017 and 20% 2016. Dosage 1g/L. All wines going into this blend are vinified entirely in barrels and benefit from a year of aging on the lees before bottling.

The deep golden colour provides all the notice required for this wine’s developing character that successfully balances dried pear, sourdough and grilled nuts with freshness and lift from pine needle, tangerine and lemon zest. A delicious, complex and layered wine showcasing the elegance of Ambonnay fruit.

70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. 50% 2015 harvest year, 30% 2014, 20% 2013. Vinification entirely in barrels. More than seven years on lees. Dosage 3/L.

Egly-Ouriet’s V.P. (Vieillissement Prolongé) sits very much at the heart of the estate’s aspirational style, with its exclusive Ambonnay fruit origins and prolonged aging. Erring toward the quincy and fruit cake spectrum, this 2015 take on Egly’s famed V.P. also takes on a broad spectrum of aldehydes ranging from slightly sherried character to nuttiness. Egly masterfully balances this with convincing freshness from a strong backbone of acidity. All of the deliciousness, roundness, fullness and silkiness is perfectly framed within the famous architecture of Egly’s terroir driven style.

100% Pinot Noir from old vines planted in 1946, planted on topsoil of just 30cm, followed by chalk. 50% 2016 harvest year, 50% 2015. Dosage 2g/L.

One of the original beacons for the blanc de noirs style, first released in 1989, this champagne elaborates the sometimes shyer 2016 base wine with a declaration of primary fruits, notably fresh pear and juicy stone fruits, from a year in barrel. The wine heralds from a single vineyard, Les Crayères, and is true to its name, with a chalky minerality integrated throughout what is otherwise a deeply concentrated and extraordinarily delicious wine.

70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay from Ambonnay. Vinification in barrel. Dosage 1g/L

As if Egly’s wow-factor couldn’t be any more impressive, behold the arrival of the Grand Cru Millésime 2014! This is an astonishingly good wine from an oceanic year that favoured Chardonnay. Indeed, Chardonnay sings loudly with lovely rounded golden fruit character, bright floral aromatics and scintillating acidity. The palate is full, rich and intense yet light as a feather as well as silky and spritzy all at once, finishing long, strong and saline. It’s a paradox in a glass, an emotional experience, and one of the greatest champagnes I have tried from this vintage.