Champagne Extra Brut 'Les Premices'

Score

94

"Toasty and yeasty aromas dominate on the first nose, with swirling smoky intrigue. It's full and rich on the tongue, with grilled brioche and creamy intensity paired with bruised apple skin and mashed apple flesh. Custard and viennoiserie characters give weight and body, while the finish perks up with bitter nut skin and greengage freshness. This is a Brut NV to stock up on, as the complexity is impressive for the price. An all-round winner."

Score

92

"This release of the NV Champagne Les Prémices is based on the 2020 vintage, was bottled in 2021, and disgorged in July 2024. Made from equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier, it's fresh and inviting, with a delicately fresh and fruity profile on the nose offering notes of raspberries, attractive red fruit, and a nice bit of extract and sapidity. It has a pleasing, fresh, savory element on the finish, with delicate spice in its fine mousse. A very lovely wine that's drinking beautifully, it can be enjoyed over the next 5-6 years."

Score

92

"The NV (2019) Extra Brut Les Prémices is a heady Champagne. Apricot, ginger, pastry, spice and tangerine peel confer an exotic flair, a theme that is ever-present. Rich and generous, with tons of textural presence, the 2019 is striking in its beauty. Dosage is 1 gram per liter. Disgorged: July 2023."

Score

90

"Based on the 2020 vintage (50%) and incorporating reserve wines from 2019 and 2018, Egly's latest release of the NV Les Prémices was disgorged in September 2024 with one gram per liter dosage. As ever, it was entirely vinified in tank and derives from the village of Trigny in Massif de Saint-Thierry, not far from Vrigny. It is the vineyard that the Egly family took over in 2016 from Clémence's mother's side, and the vines today are 40 years old, facing southeast and growing in sandier soils than those in Ambonnay. Opening in the glass with aromas of orange zest, red apple and spices, it is full-bodied, ample and textural, with succulent acidity and a rich core of fruit. The one cuvée in the range that could ever be described as straightforward, it is, stylistically, somewhat weighty in comparison to the rest of the range."

Score

17.5

"I just loved this wine. It's one of those wines about which I don't want to talk about flavours or acidity or bubble size or length. It's a wine that feels like walking with a friend on a warm day across the fields and along quiet paths. It's a wine that is comforting, like a hand pressed to your hand just when you need contact. It's a wine that is bright and yellow splashed like the dandelions on the side of the path, and it's lacy and elegant and floral snowflakes like the cow parsley frothing from the hedgerows. It has the golden warmth of sunshine on your cheeks and the soft freshness of a cool breeze on your neck. It's effortless, comfortable, quietly rhythmic. Without artifice, without maquillage. And it's beautiful. (TC)"