When fourth-generation vigneron Francis Egly took the reins from his father, Michel, back in 1980, organic farming was hardly fashionable in Champagne. Nevertheless, Egly and a few others—labeled as crazy by other Champenois—continued on with their vineyard-first approaches, which helped spawn a grower revolution. French wine writer Michel Bettane (who encouraged the grower movement in the ’80s and was the main reason Egly started bottling “Les Crayères,” the Blanc de Noirs that brought him to fame) has this to say about Egly Ouriet: “Few producers can equal Francis Egly in skill and experience, and larger houses cannot hope to emulate the cultivation norms.” It’s true, and despite the frenzied push for his wines, Francis refuses to sacrifice quality; his vineyard holdings still remain quite small and he has stayed true to his natural methodologies. 

“Bouzy le nom, Ambonnay le renom” (“Bouzy has the name, Ambonnay the fame”) was how Francis Egly answered author Peter Liem’s question about the differences between the Grand Cru villages of Ambonnay and Bouzy. In Ambonnay, Pinot Noir reigns as king because of its ability to produce deep base wines with enough character to shine through in sparkling form. You really taste the Pinot Noir in Egly’s wines because he picks at extreme levels of ripeness, which is typically done after everyone else in Ambonnay has already finished. To Francis, picking ripe, or “late,” is the most important part of the process. He doesn’t consider himself a pioneer or a trendsetter; he just makes the finest quality wine he can—and that starts with perfectly mature, concentrated grapes. 

The 2009 Grand Cru is all Ambonnay fruit from estate-owned vineyards planted in the 1970s. Vines are farmed organically and Francis has a plowing regimen that aerates the chalky-clay soils here. His multi-level concrete cellars allow the grapes to be fed into French barrels via gravity and thanks to their cold, temperature-controlled cellars, malolactic is blocked. After fermenting on indigenous yeasts and resting further in barrel, the wine was transferred into bottle where it aged a staggering 96 months in bottle—almost three times the requirement. The final blend, 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, was dosed with just four grams of sugar without fining or filtration and with minimal amounts of sulfur. Additionally, Francis tries to be as transparent as possible by providing both the dosage and disgorgement date on the back label. 

In the glass, Egly-Ouriet’s 2009 shines a deep straw-yellow core with brilliant silver hues glinting throughout. The super-compact bubbles and fine mousse all point towards the wine’s extended years in barrel and bottle, yet the nose doesn’t show overtly mature aromatics. There is so much tension and energy in this release: It bursts with freshly picked peaches, ripe yellow and red apples, quince, red currant, white plum, acacia, yellow flowers, honeysuckle, gingerbread, crushed almonds, and hints of baking spice. As the wine opens up in the glass, the nearly full-bodied palate comes at you in waves—full of ripe yellow and red fruits, crushed rock minerality, and delicate touches of herbal savor. It’s stunning. This might just become a recurring PSA for all of Egly’s top wines: Drink it now surrounded by the most important people in your life while setting a couple aside and allowing them to evolve over the next 10-20 years. Any time between now and then is also fair game. Additionally, treat this like you would a Grand Cru Burgundy and drink it in bulbous stems (or wide-mouthed tulips if you have them) around 55-60 degrees—and allow it open up! It is, and always has been, a ‘main course’ wine that will stand up to a range of dishes, but with an elevated sense of energy and mineral verve this time around, I think it’s absolutely perfect for lobster tails in a lemon-butter sauce.