Egly-Ouriet

Wine tasting with high art always works well, and the boys from The Vintage Club duly obliged with a tasting of Egly-Ouriet at the Art Porters Gallery, Singapore, on 13 Feb 2018.  A movement once scorned by those who were used to the grand marqués but now rightly championed by the cognoscenti looking for the Next Big Thing, Egly Ouriet is now one of the leading lights of Grower Champagne, made by Francis Egly who is continuing the tradition begun by his great-grandfather in Ambonnay. Certainly, the lineup tasted here is right on par with the best champagne: wines with power, delicacy and depth of fruit.

Chateau Minuty Rose D’Or. Notes of dried apricots, dates and perfumed grapefruit on the nose, decidedly light and delicate in tone partly contributed by its recessed tonal palate, showing more of gentle minerals than fruit, distinctly feminine and shy as it tapered to a glowing finish.

Egly-Ouriet Brut Rose Grand Cru. This wine spent 58 months on lees, displaying densely perfumed aromas with good lift, considerably lighter in tonal spectrum on the palate with dryish textures. A rosé that will go well with Asian cuisine.

Egly-Ouriet Les Vignes de Vrigny 1er, comprising 100% pinot meunier, aged 36 months on lees prior to bottling. Deep icy bouquet with a superb lift of delicate green fruits and citrus lime, forward in balance with excellent concentration and suppleness, finishing with traces of bitter lemon, understated minerals and toasty overtones. Very fine. Talking to a few people there, I realised pure pinot meunier may not be everyone’s idea of traditional champagne but I liked it.

Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Grand Cru. A blend of 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay, this wine exuded a wonderfully deep bouquet of dense citrus and gentle toast with some lovely gentle complexity, opening up with a good expanse of crisp citrus and fresh acidity matched by excellent depth of fruit, finishing well. Excellent.

2007 Egly-Ouriet Brut Millesime Grand Cru. Again blended with majority pinot noir and the rest chardonnay after spending 96 months on lees, the benefit is evident by the generous bouquet of yeasty overtones and toasty characters, rounded with supple mouthfeel enhanced by fine bubbles, poised and elegant with good focus and balance, showing good linearity all the way to its  lengthy glowing finish. Excellent.

Egly-Ouriet Vieillissement Prolonge (V.P.) Grand Cru. The V.P. designates prolonged ageing on lees, 84 months in this instance, translating into delicious deep minerally tones on the nose, exuding a mild yeasty pungency with recessed white fruits though I found the wine to be rather backward on a palate largely dominated by dry graphite minerals, well-balanced though a tad underwhelming on the whole.