With their discretion, their origins and their ability to survive the vicissitudes of Champagne’s history, Deutz perfectly reflects the story of the region as a whole. The house was originally founded by German immigrants in 1838 in unglamorous Aÿ, rather than Reims or Epernay and has its feet firmly in the greatest vineyards, not the noisy public space of PR. They were nearly lost to us in the Champagne riots of 1911, when their cellars were completely sacked and a combination of fractious French family shareholders and the first gulf war nearly did for them in the early nineties. They now reside – again so discretely – in the arms of Roederer and so remain firmly family owned.
This discretion is embodied in the wines here. The very opposite of flashy, these subtle, layered and complex wines reflect the fine terroirs of their vineyards. Even the NV has plenty of fruit from Grand Cru villages. This finesse is much lauded by critics, for many of whom they represent one of the pinnacles of Champagne production. Michael Edwards says in The Finest Wines of Champagne that ‘The prestige Cuvee William Deutz is, in my view, one of the three best luxury cuvees on the market – as much a very fine wine as a Champagne, and one that never needs to prove its greatness amid the big, burly flavours so prevalent today.’ (CW 09/10/14)