Wine Advisor
Egly Ouriet, Brut Millesime Grand Cru 2005
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
Disgorged in July 2014, Francis Egly's 2005 Brut Grand Cru Millésime is a brilliant wine in this middling vintage, bursting from the glass with aromas of orange oil, buttered toast, pear, praline and subtle spices. Full-bodied, muscular and vinous, it's layered and multidimensional, with a rich core of fruit, succulent acids and chalky structuring extract, complemented by a pinpoint mousse. This is a gourmand, gastronomic Champagne in its prime today.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2005 Brut Grand Cru Millésime is soft, forward and quite expressive. There is plenty of freshness in the glass, but the wine's mid-weight personality and overall lack of complexity vis-à-vis the best wines here both make me think it is a wine to drink now and over the next handful of years. The lithe, delicate finish is attractive, if a bit out of character for Egly-Ouriet, where the wines are usually richer. Candied lemon, dried apricot, white flowers and mint are some of the signatures. Disgorged: July 2014.
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.
