Champagne Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs Les Crayères Vieilles Vignes NV (Base 18, Disg. Jul 25)

In some ways, this is the emblematic wine of the Domaine. It was Michel Bettane, the influential French critic, who encouraged Francis Egly to bottle this single-vineyard wine separately, with the first release based on the 1989 harvest. This latest offering was bottled after the 2018 base had spent close to one year in cask before blending with 50% reserve wines from the 2017 vintage. The vinification and aging for both vintages took place in barrel.

The fruit comes from old Pinot Noir vines in a single terroir known as Les Crayères. The vines here were planted in 1946, so they are now 80 years old (vines of this age are extremely rare in Champagne). The soil is barely 30cm deep, then it’s chalk, hundreds of metres down—hence the name of the site (craie is French for ‘chalk’; crayères references chalk quarries which likely once existed here). Les Crayères is situated mid-slope with a full south-facing exposure, not far from the Estate’s cellars. The old vines are deeply rooted, giving the wine a classic mineral energy that weaves its way through the powerful, layered Pinot Noir fruit. The deep concentration is a product of the ripeness and low yields that the site and its ancient vines confer.

From a year Francis Egly described as “perfect,” the 2018 base is a tribute to the greatest sites of Ambonnay and the Egly-Ouriet Domaine. Houses that emphasise blending may consider a 100% old-vine Ambonnay like this to be too intense; Egly gives it to you full throttle! This release has both profound depth and incredible finesse. It’s still early days for the nose (if you open it now, give it time), while the palate is already stunning: a layered yet chiselled, mineral mouth bomb. The dosage is only 1 g/L, and it’s invisible. As always, this unique expression of a singular terroir is built for food and aging. It’s wonderful now, but give it one to three years, and it will be even better.