Ayala, owned by Bollinger since 2005, launched the 2015 vintage of its prestige cuvée Perle in January 2025. The house is known for its dry, focused, bright, and light style of Champagne—in beautiful contrast to its owner’s richer, rounder style. This is down to Ayala’s full embrace of Chardonnay, which constitutes at least half of the blend of every wine made at the house—a preference going back to the ideas of Edmond de Ayala, who founded the house in 1860 and who launched his first vintage in 1865, despite being based in Aÿ at the foot of the Montagne de Reims, where Pinot Noir is at home.
The 2015 vintage was, of course, a tricky one in Champagne, plagued by drought and heat and marked by a short growing season that left many wines with a rather loose structure and some vegetal notes, due to water stress. Speaking at the video launch, cellar master Julian Gout said, “The summer was very hot, with a heatwave and little rain.” He added that the “normal” potential alcohol level at vintage was “9%, but this time it was 10% without aromatic maturity”—another nod to the vegetal notes that, for Gout, are expressed in the Perle as a hint of eucalypt (which was not evident to me). While noting the “perfect sanitary conditions,” helped by the dryness, he conceded that “blending a magical wine was not easy.” This explains the 80% portion of wines from the Côte des Blancs. “There is less hydric stress on the chalk,” he explained. To him, 2015 Perle is the “quintessence of grand cru.”
The grands crus that make up the Chardonnay portion are Chouilly “for balance,” Cramant “for chalky freshness,” Le Mesnil “for minerality and [aging] potential,” and Oger “for intensity.” The remaining 20% of the wine is Pinot Noir harvested in Aÿ, which brings structure.
Ayala: Pure and balanced
Gout has been with Ayala since 2018 and took over as cellar master in 2022 from Caroline Latrive, who made the 2015 vintage. He explained that all the wines are made in stainless steel only, to underline the “pure and balanced” style with low dosage for which he strives. “It is a very small blend,” he said, “from historic grands crus chosen for aging potential. This is an essential first step for me. Second, it is aged under natural cork, which is essential for long aging, then it is the time on lees in tank.” Perle is blended only in June, not earlier in spring like many Champagnes. The wine spent eight years on lees and was hand-riddled before hand-disgorgement with 5g/l dosage in January 2024.
Related
The 2015 is the 13th release of the wine, which was made in 1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2012, and 2013. The name of the wine, now more prominent on the label than Ayala, evokes the long aging using the metaphor of a “pearl hidden in a dark cellar.” It is the first time the wine has been labeled “extra brut”—it always had a low dosage, but this was not pointed out on the label. The clearer message, per Gout, will help “really establish Perle as the prestige cuvée” of the house. The 2015 Perle will be released in two batches, with the second batch disgorged in January 2025 for release in 2026, again with a year of post-disgorgement age.
Tasting
Ayala 2015 Perle Extra Brut
Lemon-glazed Viennoiserie is tender on the nose. The palate is super-slender, beautifully linear—a wine relying far more on raciness than on autolysis, even though the long lees aging has undoubtedly bestowed very fine bubbles on this silvery, flowing fizz. Like many 2015s, this lacks a little concentration on the mid-palate, but its clarity and light-footed purity stand against that. | 92
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