If you ever get the chance to taste mature vintage Champagne, you shouldn’t let it pass you by. This treat came my way a couple of weeks ago, when I sampled eight different vintages of Champagne Deutz prestige line Cuvée William Deutz, with the company CEO, Fabrice Rosset.
We met at the Coburg bar at the Connaught Hotel (above) where Fabrice had lined up eight different vintages, running from the current 2002 release to various other ‘great vintages’ all the way back to 1988. All these wines are now on sale at the Coburg Bar and at Hélèn Darroze at the Connaught (below) and making such rarities available here is all part of a wider long-term campaign to restore the Champagne house’s fame; Champagne Deutz was a great favourite of Queen Victoria’s and one of the best known Champagnes at that time.
Rosset has overseen an investment programme launched in 1996, three years after the Rouzaud family (of Louis Roederer fame) bought the house, and which has resulted in a tripling in size of the winery in Aÿ and an increase in the proportion of grands and premiers crus grapes used to make the non-vintage Deutz Brut Classic.
Pinot Noir, particularly from Aÿ but also Ambonnay and Bouzy, is a crucial component of Cuvée William Deutz and always accounts for at least 50% of the blend, sometimes as much as two thirds. It’s the style driver providing power, plus mid-palate depth and richness, to set against the Côte des Blancs elegance of Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Chardonnay.
With Cuvée William Deutz the target, says Rosset, is to match “elegance and finesse with depth of flavour. We are also looking for roundness and suppleness. These are wines for the connoisseur, but while we want them to be serious, we want them to be accessible at the same time, not too austere.”
The wines with the highest percentage of Pinot Noir seem to particularly shine, with the 2002 showing lovely balance that makes it already attractive but with excellent further ageing potential, while the lush, seductive 1999 is drinking deliciously now. For the ‘target combination’ of finesse, elegance and depth of flavour, the 1995 shows considerable class while lovers of mature, toasty, savoury rich Champagne will adore the fully evolved ’88.
This article was published 3 November 2015