EGLY-OURIET Champagne 1er Cru 'Les Vignes de Vrigny' (BASE 17, DISG JUL 2021)

The first new cuvée from this Domaine for some twenty years, Les Prémices hails from 3.5 hectares of vines in Trigny (northwest of Reims) in the Massif de Saint Thierry area. To give you your 'Great Grower bearings', Trigny is situated just to the west of Saint Thierry and Merfy, where Alexandre Chartogne is based, and east of Montigny sur Vesle, where Aurélien Suenen grows the fruit for his stunning La Grande Vigne cuvee. The Egly vines span seven historic lieux-dits (or named sites) in the commune. Like the Domaine's Vrigny vines, these have come to the Domaine via Annick Egly's (Francis's wife) side of the family. The return of the two Egly children, Charles and Clémence, to the Domaine has given Francis Egly the ability to begin producing from these plots, and this is the inaugural release.

Reflecting what is planted in the vineyards, Les Prémices is an equal blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier drawn from mature vines (on average, 40 years old) rooted in clay, sand and sandstone, over chalk bedrock--a soil typical of the Massif de St. Thierry. While this first release is drawn from a single vintage, next year's 2017 base includes 60% reserve wine. As always, the classic Egly manifesto applies here: old vines and low yields; hand-harvesting of fully ripe fruit; no inoculation; long lees aging; no fining or filtration and low dosage etc... One difference here is that the wine was fermented and aged exclusively in tank. The wine spent 36 months on lees and was disgorged with two grams per litre in July 2021.