NV Egly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Les Crayares 750 ml

95 Points, 70-Year-Old Vines, Unforgettable Champagne

It’s easy to forget that truly great Champagne is often as tied to the land as the best of Burgundy or Bordeaux: With the focus most often on the house that crafted it, the land and the vineyards are less frequently spoken of.

Not with this emphatically delicious wine, however. The Champagne Egly-Ouriet Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Les Crayères comes from one of the most highly coveted Grand Crus villages in Ambonnay. And beyond that, the old Pinot Noir vines at its core were planted more than 70 years ago, just after World War Two, in 1946 and 1947. The intensity and length that those years have transmitted to the vines is nothing short of electric.

Wine Spectator certainly thought so, praising it as “aromatic and spicy, offering notes of pencil shavings, tea rose and star anise, with flavors of blackberry, toast and citrus that glide across the palate” in its 95-point review. So, too, did Vinous, which also awarded it 95 points. “Dense, full-bodied and voluptuous, with all of the richness of the old-vine coming through, the Crayères is fabulous,” it swooned.

We couldn’t agree more: This is as much a Champagne as it is a time machine, a delicious look back to an era in the region before Chardonnay had been introduced. The journey will be found in every sip, whether you drink it now or after a decade-long repose in the cellar, which it will be able to handle with ease.