Ayala releases Collection N°18, its first Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru from Aÿ

What happened

Ayala has released Collection N°18, a Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru drawn from the village of Aÿ in Champagne. The release, announced in July 2026, represents the first time the house has produced a Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru from this appellation. Composed entirely of Chardonnay, the cuvée takes its place within Ayala's curated Collection series.

Why it matters

For a house rooted in Aÿ, a village that holds Grand Cru status within the Champagne appellation, the decision to produce a Blanc de Blancs from this terroir carries considerable weight. Blanc de Blancs champagnes — made exclusively from Chardonnay — are more commonly associated with the Côte des Blancs, where the grape has long been the dominant variety. To craft one from Aÿ, a village whose reputation rests principally on Pinot Noir, is a deliberate statement about the expressive range of the terroir and the house's ambitions for its Collection range.

The N°18 designation places this release within a numbered series, suggesting a considered, selective approach to what Ayala chooses to bottle under the Collection banner. That this particular number marks the house's first Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru from its home village underlines the significance attached to the release.

Context

Aÿ is one of Champagne's seventeen Grand Cru villages, a classification that applies to communes whose grapes are rated at one hundred per cent on the region's échelle des crus. The village sits in the Vallée de la Marne and has historically been prized for Pinot Noir, though Chardonnay is also cultivated there. Ayala is among the houses based in Aÿ, and the release of Collection N°18 draws directly on the character of that specific Grand Cru terroir. The Blanc de Blancs style, by definition, admits no grape variety other than Chardonnay, making the composition of this cuvée a precise expression of the village's white-grape potential.