Egly-Ouriet : Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 2015

Characteristics and tasting advice for the Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 2015 from Egly-Ouriet

Tasting

Appearance
Brilliantly luminous, this champagne reveals a pale golden-yellow hue. A fine, persistent mousse rises in columns of delicate bubbles, reflecting extended aging on the lees and the quality of the effervescence.

Nose
The bouquet opens with aromas of pear, red plum and fresh bread, alongside vibrant nuances of lemon and lime. Notes of herb butter and verbena add an extra aromatic dimension. With aeration, the nose reveals hints of brioche, toasted bread, almond paste and honey, the result of seven years of maturation on the lees.

Palate
The attack is crisp and precise, carried by vibrant minerality and an immediately perceptible structure. The mid-palate unfolds with remarkable depth and concentration, featuring notes of intense citrus, complemented by a delicate cherry character and herbaceous touches of white pepper and sage. The silky, creamy texture reflects barrel aging and long bottle maturation. The finish stands out for its exceptional length, driven by crystalline acidity and abundant chalky minerality that brings dryness and freshness. The extra brut dosage of just one gram per liter allows a pure expression of the Ambonnay terroir without masking its mineral complexity.

Food and wine pairings

This champagne is an ideal match for oysters and other seafood. It also pairs beautifully with smoked fish such as salmon or smoked trout, sushi preparations, poached or roasted white meats served with butter sauces, as well as scallops, mussels and fresh clams. Perfect as an aperitif, it whets the appetite thanks to its mineral structure and freshness. Its level of quality also makes it a fitting choice for celebrations and special occasions.

Serving and cellaring

The Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 2015 can be enjoyed now and will continue to evolve until around 2040, or even beyond. Some assessments even suggest an optimal drinking window extending to around 2045. An additional three to five years of aging will allow for complete integration and the gradual development of secondary aromas characteristic of top-quality mature champagnes.

A Grand Cru champagne from Ambonnay combining concentration and mineral elegance

The estate

Founded in 1945 by Francis Egly’s grandfather, a former vineyard worker from Paris who fled the capital’s pollution to settle in Champagne, the Egly-Ouriet estate was gradually built from the initial three hectares in the Grand Cru village of Ambonnay. Michel Egly, Francis’s father, doubled the vineyard in the 1960s and 1970s and transformed the operation into a grower-producer. Since 1980, Francis Egly has led the estate with a revolutionary philosophy inspired by Bourgogne, aiming to raise champagne to the level of the greatest white wines of Burgundy. Today, the estate farms around twenty hectares organically and biodynamically, mainly in the Grand Cru villages of Ambonnay, Verzenay and Bouzy on the Montagne de Reims, as well as in Premier Cru at Vrigny and Bisseuil. Internationally recognized as one of Champagne’s most prestigious grower-producers, Egly-Ouriet stands out for its rigorous viticultural practices, vinification in oak barrels since 1995, the systematic blocking of malolactic fermentation since 1999, and exceptionally extended aging on the lees.

The vineyard

The Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 2015 comes from the Grand Cru vineyards of Ambonnay, a village renowned for its warm soils that enable optimal ripening of pinot noir. The plots rest on pure chalk soils, notably in the famous lieu-dit Les Crayères, where roots must penetrate deeply to find water and nutrients. This constraint concentrates aromatic compounds and imparts exceptional minerality to the wines. The vines, some planted in 1946 and 1947, benefit from south and southeast exposures that promote the accumulation of sugars and phenolic compounds. The estate’s varietal makeup comprises 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay. Vineyard management follows organic and biodynamic principles, with regular plowing, deliberately limited yields well below the authorized maximums, and hand harvesting at full ripeness.

The vintage

The year 2015 in Champagne was marked by a mild winter followed by a warm, sunny spring, then a heatwave summer with exceptional sunshine and periods of drought from mid-May to mid-August. These conditions favored the accumulation of sugars and aromatic compounds, creating a vintage defined by sunny ripeness and a concentrated profile. However, in certain less well-exposed vineyards, water stress led to vegetal notes linked to incomplete ripening. At Egly-Ouriet, the decision to harvest late, on September 20, made it possible to reach full physiological ripeness and avoid any herbaceous character, producing perfectly balanced grapes that expressed the vintage’s richness without its potential drawbacks.

Vinification and aging

The grapes for the Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 2015 were hand-harvested on September 20, 2015. Vinification was carried out entirely in French oak barrels, primarily older barriques from Burgundy cooper Dominique Laurent, with a small proportion of new oak to avoid excessive oak influence. Malolactic fermentation was systematically blocked through temperature control in order to preserve the estate’s hallmark natural acidity and linear freshness. After blending, the wine was bottled for secondary fermentation according to the traditional Champagne method, then aged on the lees for seven years before disgorgement in October 2024. This extended maturation developed aromatic complexity, a creamy texture, and the brioche and toasted-bread notes typical of great aged champagnes. A minimal dosage of one gram per liter was added after disgorgement, allowing a pure expression of the terroir without masking the wine’s minerality and structure.

Grape varieties

Pinot noir (70%)
Chardonnay (30%)