NEW RELEASES:
Champagne Egly-Ouriet 
Full range including Blanc de Noirs, Les Crayères and the new vintage, 2014, together with newly released magnums of the 2008 vintage 

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It will come as no surprise that I am running out of superlatives for the outstanding Champagne of Egly-Ouriet. This must now be one of the most eagerly anticipated releases in the Atlas calendar.
 
I am a huge fan of these wines and have been for many years. Fortunately, I get the chance to revisit these extraordinary champagnes on numerous occasions throughout the year as we tend to show the non-vintage cuvées at client events and lunches. I have never had a bad bottle. The quality and consistency up and down the scale are awe-inspiring. It takes meticulous attention to detail to achieve this; the wines barely fluctuate, despite the differences in blend that take place year on year. Simply put, this estate ranks as one of the very best producers in all of Champagne (and I include all in that statement).
 
Every time I get the chance to taste an Egly-Ouriet Champagne I am struck by the precision and purity. They are highly individual Champagnes that are now receiving the credit they are due. Certainly, over the last decade, critics have started to recognise the quality inherent in these Champagnes and, consequently, stocks tick through a lot faster than they used to and pressure on allocations is significantly greater. Luckily, we receive good allocations and regularly hold the NV Brut Grand Cru in stock.
 
As a company we focus on individual grower Champagnes over and above the wines of the Grandes Marques and larger producers. Why? Simply put, it is a combination of quality, value and individuality. If these wines have increased in price, it is on account of market demand, rather than marketing expenditure. The Eglys are not obsessed with product positioning, nor are they shelling out on sponsorship, instead they are solely focused on producing the finest wines they can, and they are highly skilled at that. I still struggle to understand why clients pay more for a lesser wine just because it is from a familiar, promoted name, when many of the most exciting wines in champagne emanate from smaller-scale growers who have holdings on specific terroirs.
 
William Kelley commented as follows last year in his review for robertparker.com, and just like me I’ll be surprised if he needs to rescript his words for this set of releases.
 
'Francis Egly has done it again. I've written at length in the End of April 2021 Issue 254 of The Wine Advocate about this estate's perfectionist methods and distinctive philosophy. Recent releases from Egly have been consistently nothing short of spectacular.’
 
I could include an extensive list of critics who have come to recognise the quality of Egly-Ouriet champagnes, William Kelley is certainly not alone!
 
And for those of you who may not recall the background of the estate, here is my summary of the key points, which I hope is useful in giving a brief overview.
 

• Egly’s wines draw on fruit from old vines in the Grand Cru villages of Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzenay. This comment applies to his superb NV Tradition as much as the most heralded wines in his range; there is no Premier Cru fruit employed. The only exceptions are the Vignes de Vrigny, which is made from Premier Cru-classified Pinot Meunier and the relatively recently introduced ‘Les Premices’ from Trigny.
• All of Egly’s wines are aged well beyond the norm before release. Nothing is hurried at all chez Egly; each cuvée benefits, in terms of complexity, from extended ageing of at least four years on their lees in bottle, way ahead of the statutory minimum for Champagne. The Vieillissement Prolongé (or V.P. for short) is the most extreme example spending 84 months on its lees.
• All of Egly’s wines are low dosage (dosage relates to the amount of sugar in the liqueur d’expedition that is added after the disgorgement process. This adjusts the wine’s overall sweetness/dryness). In Egly’s wines, there is nothing to mar the sheer purity.
• All of Egly’s wines are capable of developing in bottle, growing in complexity – that comment applies to the NV Tradition as it does across the range.
• And finally, these wines are produced in smaller quantities than most of the Champagnes with which you may be familiar; they are not seeking to further the aspirations of a brand, but rather to represent their origins. They are a far cry from some of the near-debased, commercial output of many famous names in Champagne. Making wines of such high and unerring quality requires not only considerable practical skill, but equally near maniacal focus. That’s exactly what you get with Egly-Ouriet.