We gathered 20 members @ The Champagne Bar by Richard Juhlin for a tasting of the full range of the champagnes from old time favorite Egly-Ouiret from Ambonnay.
RICHARD JUHLIN ON EGLY-OURIET Production 100 000 bottles.This firm was established in 1930 and nowadays Michel Egly owns 7,7 hectares at Ambonnay, a third of a hectare at Bouzy and one and a half a hectare at Verzenay as well as 2 hectares Meunier in Vrigny. The average age of the vines is 35 years, with 60 years for the prestige wines.
The wines are phenomenally great and rich. The grower is very close to gaining five stars through his fantastic development in recent years. Probably the foremost grower of Pinot Noir in the entire Champagne region nowadays. His much sought-after Blanc de Noirs Vielles Vignes comes from grapes from Pinot vines grown in 1946. They give this wine extra weight and density. The fruitiness is massive and soft, and the potential for maturation is enormous. He succeeds better and better for each issue.
Nowadays this is a Selosse-like, exotic, oaky and biodynamically influenced giant among champagnes. The taste layers are fantastically generous and many-headed. Very close to 5 stars.
THE CHAMPAGNES
mv EGLY-OURIET ‘BRUT TRADITION’ | Ambonnay | Halfmagnum €75 | Dégorgement sep’14 – 50 mois sûr-lie | 70PN 30CH
TASTING NOTE ‘A copy of Bollinger’s nonvintage Champagne. Chocolate, hazelnut and ripe apples. A broad, masculine fleshiness and vigor. Better and better with greater depth, elegance and Selosse-like barrel quality and organic style. Avoid the youngest and most recently disgorged specimens of all.’ RJ 84(87)
mv EGLY-OURIET ‘V.P.’ | Ambonnay | Magnum €160 | Dégorgement nov’12 – 76 mois sûr-lie | 70PN 30CH
TASTING NOTE ‘Same wine as Brut Tradition but matured longer in the cellar. Fully ripe and syrupy with a wonderful rich flavor.’
RJ 88(88)
mv EGLY-OURIET ‘LES VIGNES de VRIGNY’ | Ambonnay | Halfmagnum €50 | Dégorgement sep’14 – 38 mois sûr-lie | 100PM
TASTING NOTE ‘If you have never tasted Prévost in Gueux then you should taste this wine. Very similar style. Inspired by Selosse, to put it mildly. Pure Meunier with biodynamics and new barrels. A lovely combination in the right hands and a new stylistic contribution in the already abundant flora of Champagne.’ RJ 86(89)
mv EGLY-OURIET ‘BLANC de NOIRS VIEILLES VIGNES’ | Ambonnay | Halfmagnum €125 | Dégorgement jan’13 – 54 mois sûr-lie | 100PN
TASTING NOTE ‘Grapes from Pinot vines cultivated in 1946 give the wine an extra weight and concentration. The fruit is rich, soft, and dense, and the potential for cellar storage is huge. He is succeeding better and better with each issue. Nowadays this is a Selosse-like, exotically oaky, organically influenced giant of a champagne. The flavour layers are fantastically generous and multi-facetted.’ RJ 94(95)
2004 EGLY-OURIET ‘MILLÉSIME’ | Ambonnay | Halfmagnum €70 | Dégorgement jul’13 – 96 mois sûr-lie | 80PN 20CH
TASTING NOTE ‘The most elegant and lightest vintage I encountered from Egly. Ultimately similar with 2004from Bollinger. Old barrels, but softly toned down, clean nice apple notes, stringent acidity and underlying perfumed force.’ RJ 91(93)
A wine is incomplete without its story
photo cred Raphaël Cameron
