Champagne Egly-Ouriet 'VP' Grand Cru NV Magnum

Grape

70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay; Ambonnay Rouge for color (about 5% of the blend)

Type of Champagne

Extra-Brut

Dosage

3g/L

Disgorgement

July 2021

Tasting notes

Pale yellow. Aromas of spiced pears, yellow peaches, baking spices, warm oatmeal. Precise, spicy, vinous; flavors of ginger, red apple, citrus fruits, toast.

The V.P. stands for Vieillissement Prolongé (prolonged ageing), as the wine spends so long on lees--in this case 84 months. It's a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, with fruit from Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzenay--all great Grand Cru terroirs. Vinification and élevage was in oak casks, with the dosage a tiny 2g/L, seriously Extra Brut.

The power of the fruit plus the extended lees ageing grants such harmony, so much length and so much complexity and texture, that the dosage seems irrelevant. It's a vinous, powerful and super-pure Champagne of great depth and class. Intense and statuesque, yet with so much finesse as well. After resting seven years in bottle in the Egly-Ouriet cellars, this is now singing.

Expert Ratings

Wine Advocate 94/100 - Vinous 95/100

More About The Winery

It was right after the second World War that the Egly House was born, when Francis Egly’s Grandfather started in the wine business with 3 hectares of vine in the Grand Cru area of Ambonnay. By buying them and then with a wedding to Madame Ouriet, the descendants Michel and Francis acquired another 9 hectares, among which the wonderful plot of Crayères, where vines are more than 60 years old.

Francis Egly’s champagnes impress with the exceptional quality of their base wines. They are powerful, terroir-expressive sparkling wines that are mainly based on Pinot Noir. Given that the Domaine is one of the most renowned producers of winemaking champagne today, it has not been in this business that long. Before Francis Egly took over the helm in 1982, most of the grapes were sold to negociants. The charismatic and strong-willed winemaker changed this almost immediately and fundamentally, so that he was quickly mentioned in the same breath as Anselme Selosse and still is when the most formative figures of the champagne winemaking movement are mentioned.