Champagne Egly Ouriet Tradition Grand Cru Brut NV (2024 Release)
Egly-Ouriet is widely regarded as one of the world's finest Champagne producers, leading the charge for quality, purity, and vineyard expression since the 1990s. As a Grower Champagne (Récoltant-Manipulant), they control the process from vineyard to bottle, allowing them to focus entirely on low yields, old vines, and extended aging. The Tradition Grand Cru Brut is Egly-Ouriet’s flagship non-vintage release, but its quality rivals many houses' prestige cuvées. Grapes for the Egly Ouriet Tradition are sourced exclusively from prime Grand Cru villages, primarily their family holdings in Ambonnay, Bouzy, and Verzenay - the heart of the Montagne de Reims, renowned for Pinot Noir. Unlike the legal minimum of 15 months for NV Champagne, Egly-Ouriet ages this wine for a minimum of 48 months (four years) on the lees. This long contact time creates a supremely rich, complex, and silky texture. The wines are bottled with a very low dosage (Brut), allowing the pure expression of the concentrated fruit to shine through. Deep gold in colour with a fine, lingering bead the nose is rich and complex with aromas of gingerbread, ripe orchard fruit (apple, pear), and toasted nuts, with a core of earthy minerality. The palate is broad, full-bodied, and highly textural. The long aging gives it incredible depth and a mouth-coating presence, finishing with powerful chalkiness and profound length.
