What you see in front of you is going to be discussed in books, praised amongst critic circles, and highlighted in private cellars for years and decades to come. And being the visionary savant that Francis Egly is, it’s as if he knew his 2008 Brut Grand Cru had the potential to reach absolute perfection: He intentionally held it back for two additional years, 10 in total, and even released it well after his 2009. When he finally unveiled it to impatiently awaiting critics, their jaws collectively hit the floor and the consensus was that they were witnessing one of the greatest Champagnes in modern history.
“What is clear is that the 2008 Brut Grand Cru Millésime will be worth any and every effort to seek out once it arrives on the market.” That’s straight out of the mouth of Robert Parker’s
Wine Advocate, who has honored it with an elusive triple-digit rating—only the second time in history they’ve awarded a perfect score for a Champagne, and the very first time for a Grower Champagne. After tasting this limited, earth-shattering 2008, three things came to mind: (1) I believe this will become a unicorn wine in due time, (2) it’s stock will continue soaring, and (3) it could be the best Francis Egly has ever crafted, not to mention one of the finest Champagnes I’ve come across. While others are already charging $300+ for this, we’re rewarding your enduring loyalty to Egly with the lowest price in the country. Severely limited quantities available. Free shipping on two.
[NOTE: If this is your first time seeing our Friday night series, welcome. My name is Mark Osburn, writer and sommelier at SommSelect, and you’re likely familiar with the many Champagnes I’ve waxed rhapsodic about over the years. My goal is simple: to offer you rare Champagne exclusives and/or highly allocated sparkling gems that have to be pried out of an iron grip. These special offers don’t happen every week, but they will always be on a Friday night...stay ever-vigilant.]
Francis Egly isn’t “arguably” or “one of” the best grower-producers in Champagne; he’s in everyone’s top two or three, end of story. He organically farms to a fanatical degree, harvests at absolute perfect levels of ripeness, barrel vinifies, and ages for a flat-out ridiculous amount of time. Egly stands apart from the competition and with each passing year there is renewed acclaim, higher prices, and tighter allocations. All of it is entirely justifiable: Egly-Ouriet consistently releases the greatest wines in the world and his 2008 just went nuclear.
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 (an encourager of the grower movement in the ’80s, and the main reason Francis started bottling his famous “Les Crayères” bottling) 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.
Egly’s Grand Cru Vintage bottlings comes from estate-owned Grand Cru Ambonnay fruit that was 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 evolved for 120 months—two years longer than Egly’s normal aging regimen, and well over three times the requirement for Vintage Champagne. The final blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay was dosed with roughly four grams of sugar and saw no fining or filtration.
I’ll be the first to say that I didn’t want to be influenced by the triple-digit score. Call me twisted, but perfectly rated wines leave a metaphorically bad taste in my mouth. I’m a firm believer that there’s always room for improvement and not one soul can truly master their craft. I’ll also be the first to say that I was completely wrong after opening Egly’s ‘08. This Champagne is guaranteed to take your breath away. I just kept saying “damn” over and over to myself as my palate was met with profoundly deep layers of vivid orchard fruits, petrichor, preserved lemon, fresh wildflowers, crushed stones/chalk/shells/nuts, exotic spice, and creamy nougat. If you enjoy the breathtaking interplay of energy/elegance, full-throttle Grand Cru Ambonnay depth, and multi-dimensional savor, this bottle is indeed perfection.
Antonio Galloni says this ‘08 “is quite possibly the most elegant, most refined Champagne I have ever tasted at Egly-Ouriet” and Wine Advocate has no qualms calling it “the finest 2008 Champagne” they’ve tasted. I wholeheartedly agree on both accounts. Treat this special wine like you would a Grand Cru Burgundy by serving in large stems around 55 degrees, allowing it to open up, and making sure you stretch your bottle out over several hours with your closest friends. Set the others aside for further evolution over the next 20 years. Enjoy.
