Year in and year out, Egly-Ouriet is consistently my go-to producer and “Les Crayères” will always be one of my all-time favorite Champagnes. It never fails to impress critics for its profound depth, intense Pinot purity, and incredibly vinous style—if Grand Cru Burgundy could sparkle, this would be it.
I love their entire range of Champagnes, but Francis Egly’s “Les Crayères”—a single, pure chalk vineyard planted in 1946—is a spectacle to behold: Natural vinification in French oak, extended aging (6+ years), and a low dosage shows off his precise mastery of Pinot Noir. There’s a reason that cult-favorite Jacques Selosse only purchases Pinot Noir for his rosé from Egly-Ouriet—it’s simply the best out there! French wine writer Michel Bettane (who encouraged the ‘grower’ movement in the ’80s and was the main reason Egly started crafting “Les Crayères”) has this to say about the man: “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. Hurry and take your share—it will sell fast!
“Bouzy le nom, Ambonnay le renom” (“Bouzy has the name, Ambonnay the fame”) was Francis Egly’s answer to author Peter Liem’s question about the differences between the Grand Cru villages of Ambonnay and Bouzy. In Ambonnay, Pinot Noir reigns supreme 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—typically done after everyone else in Ambonnay has already finished their harvest. For 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.
When Egly, a fourth-generation vigneron, took the reins from his father, Michel, back in 1980, organic farming was hardly fashionable in Champagne. Nevertheless, Francis Egly and a few others—labeled crazy by their fellow Champenois—continued on with their vineyard-first approaches, which takes us to today’s wine: These ancient 70-something-year-old vines (vieilles vignes) in the vineyard of “Les Crayères” lie within the heart of Ambonnay and are meticulously farmed with a strict organic mindset. Francis even has a plowing regimen that aerates these incredibly deep, pure-chalk soils. His multi-level concrete cellars allow grapes to be fed into 20% new French oak barrels via gravity and fermentation relies on indigenous yeasts. After resting for a long period, the wine is transferred to bottle where it ages on its lees (for 70 months!) in Francis’ cool cellars. After disgorgement, it is dosed with a minimal sugar addition. As with all his wines, it is bottled unfined and unfiltered, and, to be as transparent as possible, Francis provides both the dosage and disgorgement date on the back label.
“Les Crayères” is a dense Blanc de Noirs Champagne that reveals a brooding yellow-gold core with slight copper tones. It delivers sumptuous and intense dark-toned aromas, led by brioche, morello cherry, yellow apple, redcurrant, Meyer lemon, spun honey, and crushed chalk. The palate is lush and broad—as full-bodied as a Champagne gets—with an amazing flavor concentration of cream, white mushrooms, pastries, toasted almonds, salt preserved lemon, and grated ginger. Although this wine is over a decade old, it’s still blossoming, and will continue doing so over the next decade. Ideally consume it just under cellar temp (~55F) in a large-mouthed Champagne stem, filled only halfway, so the aromas can blossom. A Burgundy stem also works well if you aren’t afraid of losing a bit of carbonation (not a bad thing!). Most important is to get this lavish wine on the table with some food; it’s powerful enough to sing with an assortment of funky cheeses, but you should also pair it with something filling, like the attached recipe for grilled sandwiches filled with smoked salmon and gruyère. Cheers!
