Egly-Ouriet

Egly-Ouriet is a grower house at Ambonnay, a grand cru village rated 100 per cent on the échelle des crus, on the southern flank of the Montagne de Reims. The family has farmed there since the 1930s. Francis Egly took charge in 1982 and stopped selling grapes to the trade, committing the estate to bottling its own wine instead. He works alongside his daughter Clémence.

The holdings run to nearly ten hectares of grand cru in Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzenay, with premier cru Meunier at Vrigny and a premier cru parcel at Bisseuil, in the Grande Vallée de la Marne near Aÿ. Pinot Noir dominates the plantings, with Chardonnay and Meunier alongside. The vines are ploughed and worked without herbicide or chemical fertiliser, at yields well below the regional norm; the estate holds no organic or biodynamic certification.

Since 1995 the wines have been vinified largely in barrel, the barrels running from one to five years old according to the cuvée, and the malolactic has been blocked since 1999. Dosage is held to roughly one to three grams per litre. Lees ageing runs from three to seven years across the range and longer for the V.P. The wines are deep, vinous and saline, with red fruit, citrus, brioche and a chalky finish. Arcana Cabinet lists five wines from the house: the Grand Cru Extra Brut and its vintage counterpart; Les Crayères Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes, from a single Ambonnay parcel on very chalky ground planted in 1946 and 1947 and made entirely from Pinot Noir; the premier cru Les Vignes de Bisseuil; and the still red Coteaux Champenois Ambonnay. The range also includes Les Prémices, the premier cru Les Vignes de Vrigny and the Grand Cru V.P.