Collery EmpyreumatiC Brut 2014 Grand Cru

Collery EmpyreumatiC Brut 2014 Grand Cru is the most explicitly wood-shaped wine in the house’s current range. The 2014 release is built from 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay, placing it firmly on the Pinot-led side of Collery while using cellar treatment to create a very different expression from the regular Brut and Extra-Brut cuvées. Its élevage is unusually specific. Half of the clear wines were aged in a 10-hectolitre cask, while the other half went into a combination of used Burgundy barrels and new 228-litre American-oak barrels. Dosage for this vintage is 9 g/L. Those details belong to the 2014 release and should be read as part of its identity rather than as a permanent formula for future vintages. Maison Collery is rooted in Aÿ-Champagne, where Jules-Anatole Collery created the brand in 1893. The modern range is organised around Grand Cru fruit, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with Pinot Noir especially prominent. Instead of building every wine as a variation on one house blend, Collery separates its portfolio into Blends, Singles and Vintages. EmpyreumatiC 2014 sits squarely in that vintage category. It is the bottle to choose when you want to see how Collery uses wood as an active part of the wine rather than simply as a background cellar tool. The contrast is particularly useful against the house’s NV Brut Grand Cru, which gives the broadest introduction to the Pinot-led style, or against Blanc de Noirs and Blanc de Blancs, which separate the two principal grape directions more cleanly. The cuvée’s appeal lies in that combination of exact year, strong Pinot Noir emphasis and a highly defined oak regime. It is not the most neutral expression of the house; it is the most deliberate. Choose EmpyreumatiC 2014 if you want a Grand Cru Champagne with a clear vintage identity and a cellar programme that is central to the wine’s character. For buyers already familiar with Collery’s regular range, it is the most revealing step into the house’s more ambitious, wood-influenced side.