Champagne Egly-Ouriet

All in all, the vineyard whose average age of the vines is 40 years covers about ten hectares on the Grands Crus Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzenay with 2 thirds pinot noir and the rest shared between pinot meunier and chardonnay. The soils are clay-limestone, as in all the remarkable great growths in France and are exposed south-southeast. Everything is in reasoned culture.

Depending on the characteristics of the harvest and the wine, Francis Egly, the current owner varies the proportion of 1 to 5 year old barrels since 1995 in which the wine will age in varying proportions in order to let each terroir express itself rather than follow an invariant recipe. There is no malolactic fermentation since 1999 in order to preserve the freshness of the wine and the disgorgement dates are mentioned on the back labels.

In contrast to Champagne, which sells its bottles younger and younger, Francis Egly, following in the footsteps of his father Michel, is patiently building a treasure trove that allows him to market his Bruts after four years of aging, and his Millésimés beyond six years. Very low production of around 100,000 bottles depending on the year.