Wine Advisor
Egly Ouriet, Brut Grand Cru 1999
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 1999 Brut Grand Cru is 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay from old vines in Ambonnay that spent a whopping 96 months on its lees. The wine exudes notable complexity in its dried apricots, peaches, baking spices, roasted nuts, ash, freshly baked cinnamon rolls and sweet toasted oak. This is a soft, creamy style of Champagne backed up with impressive structure. The oak notes are rather prominent at first, but then recede somewhat with air. Readers who prefer wines with less overt oak influence will probably enjoy some of the other releases more. This bottle was disgorged in July 2008.
About the Producer
Francis Egly sets the standard for wine-growers throughout the Champagne region, with his stringent work ethic, levels of stock that allow long fermentation on lees, and precise labeling that states the date of dis-gorgement and the duration of that fer-mentation on lees. The warm soils of Ambonnay bring the pinot noir to peak ripeness, maintaining a consistent level of quality in his grapes for the past ten years. Egly's two most outstanding cuvees are, first, the incredible, uniquely opulent non-vintage Blanc de Noirs: and the Coteaux Champenois, a wine made in pitifully small quantities but arguably the very best avail-able in Champagne today. But even at entry level, the deliciously subtle, 100 per cent pinot Meunier Les Vignes de Vrigny puts on exemplary performance. This is, in short, the most complete, homogeneous range of wines ever from this exceptional producer, who now boasts ultramodern facilities that should allow him to raise the bar even higher.
