Egly Ouriet
With his forward approach to agriculture and considerable investment in the winery, Francois Egly has elevated the quality of his Champagnes in a way that few others have. He is turning out some reference point Champagne.
Over the past year, we have made several offers of Egly Ouriet only to watch them sell out at head turning speed, so clearly you all have gotten the memo; this Champagne house is on fire!
I got a chance to pop a few bottles from the winter allocation, and it's easy to see why people clamor for the wines. They are amazingly precise, show beautiful depth, and personally, Iām a sucker for the red berry quality of the Pinot Noir which dominates most of the blends. As a retailer, I look for the wines every day and have told my suppliers if you see any available, donāt hesitate, just buy it for me! Iām that confidentā¦across the entire range, the wines are spectacular!
Today's offer includes their two workhorse wines - the Grand Cru Extra Brut and the Grand Cru Vieillissement Prolonge or simply āVP.ā Both wines come from the domaineās vineyards in Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzenay, where pinot noir makes up the bulk of the blend.
Please read below for more of my notes and observations on each of these wines individually.
VINS RARE NOTES : The Grand Cru Extra Brut is a wine made with 70% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay. It's aged 48 months lees after spending the first year aging and fermenting in older Burgundy barrels. The wine undergoes no malolatic fermentation, and is one of the reasons the wine maintains its focused laser sharp quality. With this being the 2024 release this would be based upon the 2018 vintage.
Based on the 2017 vintage, Egly's NV Brut Grand Cru unwinds in the glass with aromas of pear, freshly baked bread, lemon zest, tangerine and praline. Full-bodied, layered and elegantly muscular, with terrific concentration, racy acids and chalky structure, it concludes with a long, gently honeyed finish. Egly has always been enthusiastic about the quality of his Ambonnay fruit in 2017, and this bottling certainly validates his early confidence.Ā
- Wine Advocate, 92
VINS RARE NOTES:Ā Ā The āVPā is also a blend of Pinot Noir (60%) and Chardonnay (40%) - it sees considerable lees aging at 7yrs and again no malolatic. This wine puts most Grand Marque champagnes to shame and it truly one of the exceptional wines produced in Champagne year in and year out. This release is based upon the 2016 vintage with reserve wine from both 2014 and 2015. This is one to own!
"The NV Champagne V.P. stands for Vieille ProlongĆ©e, because it is aged longer, seeing 7 years on the lees before disgorgement. A blend 70% Pinot and the rest Chardonnay, based on 2016 and with reserve wine from 2015 and 2014, they made this blend in 2017. Offering wonderfully pure aromas of cherry liqueur, eau de vie, fresh flowers, and crushed rocks, it's full-bodied on the palate and has broad shoulders but retains a very focused and well-defined feel, with outstanding concentration and purity, a fantastically long finish, and a remarkably youthful feel. It's beautiful now but has the potential for a lot of longevity and is going to be wonderful to check in on."Ā Ā
- Jeb Dunnuck, 97
