Region: Champagne
Variety: Pinot Noir (100%)
Vintage: NV
Country: France
The Wine
Vintages: 2017 (50%), 2016 (50%)
Bottling: 2018 · Disgorgement: July 2024 · Time on lees: 72 months
Vinification/Élevage: Barrel for both vintages (2017 base spent ~1 year in cask before blending)
Dosage: 2 g/L
In many ways, the emblematic wine of the domaine. On the urging of Michel Bettane, Francis Egly first bottled this single-vineyard cuvée separately from the 1989 harvest. This latest release marries the 2017 base with 50% reserve wine from 2016, all raised in barrel.
The fruit is 100% old-vine Pinot Noir from Les Crayères, a single mid-slope terroir in Ambonnay with full south-facing exposure, not far from the estate’s cellars. Planted in 1946, the vines are now 75 years old—an extreme rarity in Champagne. Topsoil here is scarcely 30 cm before you hit pure chalk descending hundreds of metres (craie is French for “chalk”; crayères references the chalk quarries that likely once existed). Deep roots and naturally low yields deliver ripeness, concentration and a classic mineral drive that threads through the layered Pinot fruit.
The 2017 base pays tribute to Ambonnay’s greatest sites and to the Egly-Ouriet style. Where some houses might find a 100% old-vine Ambonnay too intense, Egly delivers it full throttle: profound depth yet incredible finesse. The nose is just beginning to unfurl (give it time if opening now), while the palate already dazzles—layered, chiselled and strikingly mineral. The 2 g/L dosage is invisible. As always, this singular terroir is built for the table and for the cellar. Give it two to three years and it will be even better.
Cellared Says
Icon status. A monument of Ambonnay Pinot: layered, saline and expansive with decades ahead. Blue-chip Grower Champagne for both hedonists and investors.
Wine Reviews
Region: Champagne
Variety: Pinot Noir (100%)
Vintage: NV
Country: France
The Wine
Vintages: 2017 (50%), 2016 (50%)
Bottling: 2018 · Disgorgement: July 2024 · Time on lees: 72 months
Vinification/Élevage: Barrel for both vintages (2017 base spent ~1 year in cask before blending)
Dosage: 2 g/L
In many ways, the emblematic wine of the domaine. On the urging of Michel Bettane, Francis Egly first bottled this single-vineyard cuvée separately from the 1989 harvest. This latest release marries the 2017 base with 50% reserve wine from 2016, all raised in barrel.
The fruit is 100% old-vine Pinot Noir from Les Crayères, a single mid-slope terroir in Ambonnay with full south-facing exposure, not far from the estate’s cellars. Planted in 1946, the vines are now 75 years old—an extreme rarity in Champagne. Topsoil here is scarcely 30 cm before you hit pure chalk descending hundreds of metres (craie is French for “chalk”; crayères references the chalk quarries that likely once existed). Deep roots and naturally low yields deliver ripeness, concentration and a classic mineral drive that threads through the layered Pinot fruit.
The 2017 base pays tribute to Ambonnay’s greatest sites and to the Egly-Ouriet style. Where some houses might find a 100% old-vine Ambonnay too intense, Egly delivers it full throttle: profound depth yet incredible finesse. The nose is just beginning to unfurl (give it time if opening now), while the palate already dazzles—layered, chiselled and strikingly mineral. The 2 g/L dosage is invisible. As always, this singular terroir is built for the table and for the cellar. Give it two to three years and it will be even better.
Cellared Says
Icon status. A monument of Ambonnay Pinot: layered, saline and expansive with decades ahead. Blue-chip Grower Champagne for both hedonists and investors.
Wine Reviews
