Egly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Les Crayeres [D99][JD99][WA97][V96][JG94][JS94][W&S93][WS93]

Producer: Egly-Ouriet  
Region: Champagne, France
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir
Year: Non-Vintage 

Decanter, 99 Points 

"Some in Champagne can achieve grandeur of dizzying proportions, and the most talented can summon delicacy of lightfooted grace, but no village marries the two as effortlessly as Ambonnay, and no practitioner as masterfully as Francis Egly. Vieilles Vignes is his masterpiece, succeeding in capturing the golden sunlight grandeur and chalk mineral airiness of his tiny amphitheatre shaped lieu-dit of vines planted in 1946. The essence of Pinot Noir." 

Jeb Dunnuck, 99 Points 

"Aged 72 months on lees, fermented in barrel with full malo, the NV Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs Brut Les Crayères Vieilles Vignes is just a heavenly bottle, offering a kaleidoscope-like nose of buttered citrus, orange blossom, flowers, green almonds, and salty minerality. These flow to a full-bodied, rich, deep, and incredibly layered palate Champagne that flirts with perfection. It’s stunning today yet it should easily evolve for another 20 years." 

Wine Advocate, 97 Points 

"Disgorged in October 2016 after 75 months on the lees, this release of Egly's NV Brut Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru Les Crayères (2008-2009 base) is a blend of the two vintages, and it's showing strikingly well, soaring from the glass with a complex bouquet of golden orchard fruit, Anjou pear, honeycomb, pralines and freshly baked bread. Full-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, its enveloping core of fruit is underpinned by crisp acids and complemented by a beautifully refined pinpoint mousse, concluding with a precise, elegantly chalky finish. This is still just an adolescent, but it's very hard to resist right now." 

Vinous, 96 Points 

"The NV Brut Blanc de Noirs Les Crayeres Grand Cru explodes from the glass with a range of Pinot aromas and flavors that is just breathtaking. Bright acids and beams of saline intensity offer striking contrast. Even though it has just been Disgorged:, the Crayeres is just stunning. For readers who want to know what Pinot from Ambonnay tastes like, well, this is it. Hints of Mirabelle plum, red plum and dried flowers linger on the substantial finish. Disgorged: July, 2020." 

John Gilman, 94 Points 

"This bottling hails from the famed les Crayères vineyard in Ambonnay, and having spent five years aging sur latte in the Egly-Ouriet cellars, it is from the 2009 base year. The wine is starting to drink beautifully today, offering up a deep and blossoming nose of peach, apple, a touch of hazelnut, complex minerality, wheat toast, caraway seed and a fine, smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, broad-shouldered, full-bodied and mineral-laden, with a rock solid core of fruit, fine focus and grip, elegant mousse and a long, brisk and complex finish. This is already starting to show the first elements of its secondary layers of complexity on both the nose and palate and is really an excellent bottle of bubbly." 

James Suckling, 94 Points 

"A very striking nose with immense personality and distinctively richer, red orchard fruit characters. The oak is assertive yet fits in well adding cedary, woody aromas and spicy complexity; there's a hint of pepper too. The palate delivers an immensely concentrated flavorsome impression with ripe phenolics framing nectarine, brulée custard and blue fruit flavors. Powerful, detailed and balanced." 

Wine & Spirits, 93 Points 

"The vines at Les Crayères were planted in 1946, on the pure chalk soils of a south-facing hill in Ambonnay. Half of this wine is based on the 2009 harvest, fermented in oak barrels, 20 percent of them new; the other half, from the same vineyard, comes from 2008. It’s the most interesting of the Egly wines we tasted, as well as the most challenging, tasting like a red Burgundy, the power of its ripe red fruit amplified by oak. It’s generous, smoky, a little tannic, and firm for all its richness. A substantial, vinous Champagne, this should gain in expression as it ages." 

Wine Spectator, 93 Points 

"A toasty version, with a fine, tightly knit mousse carrying lots of ground spice and graphite notes, as well as flavors of ripe black currant, lemon meringue pie, crystalized honey and toasted hazelnut. Well-cut, tangy acidity keeps this fresh and focused through to the spiced finish." 

Alcohol: 12.5% 

Organically farmed. 

*Discounts do not apply to items like this one in the Fine & Rare category. Price and availability in store may vary.