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Wednesday, January 11, 2023 - Ratafia de Champagne is a liqueur aperitif, made with the juice of freshly picked Champagne grapes and fortified immediately after pressing (to prevent fermentation commencing). This fortification come via grape spirit distilled from Champagne grape skins. It’s a style of wine that belongs to the same family as Cognac’s Pineau des Charentes.
Having said all of that, as with anything that is bottled by this great grower, the Egly Ratafia is not your average example of the genre. Apart from the renowned work in the vineyard, Egly uses only 100% Grand Cru, estate-grown Pinot Noir fruit from a particular harvest (in this case 2017) to make this Ratafia. The fruit was sorted and pressed gently and the finest of grape spirit or marc (from Egly’s own fruit) was added before it spent four years mellowing in barrel.
When you consider that most Ratafia comes from a Champagne producer’s weakest declassified fruit, you can begin to understand that we’re not talking about a standard example here. This perfectionist grower refuses to aim for anything less than greatness. It is a stunningly pure and intense expression of this rare style that can be drunk on its own, over ice, with soda, or used to make a wonderful version of kir. Bottled in 2021.

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