There are few growers in champagne with the attention to detail and unashamed passion for producing wines of distinction.
Egly-Ouriet is based in the grand cru village of Ambonnay, famed for its pinot noir fruit. It is run by the skillful, Francis Egly who practices biodynamic and organic principals in his vineyards which span, Bouzy and Verzenay. Francis makes up a handful of highly talented and terroir-driven producers along with the likes of Anselme Selosse, Larmandier-Bernier and Vouette et Sorbée.
These are wines first and he produces deep, powerful and intense styles of champagne. His minimum ageing is around 48-60 months (as declared on his informative back label) for his non-vintage wines, allowing time to express the inner strength and purity. If you’ve never heard of Egly-Ouriet before, you are in for a treat.
100 Points William Kelley
Egly’s 2008 Brut Grand Cru Millésime was showing as brilliantly as ever. The wine seemed to shut down a little in early 2020, but it is already beginning to unwind, and this was the most expressive bottle that I’ve drunk to date. Offering up an incipiently complex bouquet of orchard fruit, citrus oil, pralines and freshly baked bread, now complemented by hints of iodine, clear honey and mirabelle plum, it’s full-bodied, deep and layered, with immense depth and concentration, racy acids and elegantly muscular structuring dry extract. Long and penetrating, as I’ve written before, this wine is a monument to what Champagne’s grower revolution has achieved over the last 30 or so years. Drink 2023 – 2048.
