Champagne Deutz Berceaux Vinothèque: a dazzling new release of back vintages

Named the Deutz Berceaux Vinothèque, literally the ‘cradles of wine’, the collection is made up of 17,000 bottles, born and aged at the Deutz house in Aÿ, Champagne. Just under 7,000 of these bottles are now being released to the market.

Sotheby’s fine wine expert and head of wine Serena Sutcliffe MW once called Champagne Deutz a house for ‘those in the know’. However, on a visit to Champagne nearly 10 years ago, I found Deutz to be a work in progress. But this tasting confirmed to me the riches it can make.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 24 Deutz Berceaux Vinothèque wines

What is a vinothèque?

Almost every Champagne house keeps back a vinothèque cellar of its top vintages as an archived treasure chest, its own memory bank, often to entertain private guests. But for some, as with Deutz, these wines are intended for late release, sold periodically at a premium to collectors and the smartest restaurants.

See the review of the Cristal Vinothèque

Fabrice Rosset, Deutz’s recently retired president, baptised the vinothèque as the ‘Berceaux’ on his arrival at Deutz in 1996. The idea of the cradles alludes to the galleries within the 60 metres-deep chalk cellars where the bottles evolve at a constant 11˚C snail’s pace, with ideal humidity levels, 10-30 years longer than their usual ageing time.

Champagne has legendary potential longevity, but once it is released to the market it can suffer quickly during transportation to buyers worldwide, and subsequently in cellars that are too warm, dry and light.

But Deutz’s late releases offer a near guarantee to buyers. They will leave the Deutz cellars pamper-perfect, aged where they were made. Rosset said that at first the project had risk; they needed proof their prestige babies could develop beautiful flavours and texture if aged much longer than normal. The house held its breath for more than a decade before it began to taste the success of the vinothèque’s suspended animation.

Deutz at a dash:

Founded: 1838

Based in: Aÿ, Champagne

Owned by: The Rouzaud family since 1993, which also owns Champagne Louis Roederer.

Size: Deutz owns some 42ha of vineyards, but sources fruit from over 200ha. It produces around 2.8million bottles annually.

Personalities: Fabrice Rosset drove the rise of this boutique since 1996 and has now handed over to new CEO Marc Hoellinger. On the theme of change, head winemaker Michel Davesne is also handing over to Caroline Latrive, previously winemaker at Champagne Ayala.

Noted for: High quality, with finesse and precision in the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blends. Outstanding prestige vintage wines are Cuvée William Deutz (mostly Pinot Noir) and Amour de Deutz, one of Champagne’s best 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs.

Pre and post disgorgement ageing

Champagne’s best vintage wines are marked by two different ageing periods in bottle: the first period is the time on lees, where complex flavours develop from the wine’s interplay with the yeast deposits of its second fermentation in the bottle. The second period of evolution happens after disgorgement.

A traditional view claims that Champagne ages quickly during this second period, as maturation is sped up by an intake of oxygen when the bottle is briefly opened for disgorgement.

Tasting the wines

All of the Berceaux Vinothèque wines tasted on this occasion (bar two unlucky bottles of the 1982 Brut) were in magnificent condition, with an average of 14 years ageing after disgorgement.

My highest scoring wine, the Brut 1985 from magnum with 97 points, had spent 18 years on lees and a further 18 years post-disgorgement, and its success suggests that magnums are the best bottles for long-aged Champagne, as is often claimed.

We tasted 25 wines from 14 vintages, the youngest 2002, the oldest 1982, with the peacock’s tail of bottles from 1990, 1988 and 1985 gaining my highest scores. All the wines showed magnificently complex details and silk textures.

See the Deutz producer profile

Most of the wines had a gentle creamy sparkle, having lost the bite of youth, but this complemented the light textures.

The majority of the wines tasted were Deutz’s double act of prestige wines: Cuvée William Deutz, made mainly from Pinot Noir and first launched with the 1959 vintage; and Amour de Deutz, pure Chardonnay launched with the 1993 vintage at the turn of the millennium.

We were also treated to six vintage versions of the Blanc de Blancs, the precursor to Amour and still made as a separate vintage Blanc de Blancs, as well as five vintages of the Brut.

Interestingly some of the best performers were aged under a cork and staple seal before disgorgement, a method more and more Champagne houses now adopt for bottles aged long on their lees, instead of the usual metal crown cap.

Each wine from the Vinotèque collection bears the gallery, or berceau, number on the label, indicating where in Deutz’s extensive cellars it has been aged.

A growing trend

Long-aged prestige Champagnes and re-releases of older vintages, matured in perfect conditions, are part of a current trend among Champagne houses and are booming on the collectors’ market.

It suggests that we should be ageing great Champagnes for longer ourselves, ensuring our cellars are a cradle: dark, humid, still and cold, to help them blossom into old age. Believe me, it’s usually worth the wait when you taste them.

Holding back the years: Champagne vintage overviews

Vintage Champagne makes up less than 5% of all Champagne. In great years, almost all houses make a vintage wine. And some manage to make good wines in lesser or middling years, too. Like in Burgundy, the producer is just as important as the year. Below is an overview of the growing season and resulting quality for each vintage featured in the Berceaux Vinothèque:

2002: Great, with concentrated power and elegance. The best still have time.

2000: Moderate quality; often good for Blanc de Blancs styles. Often lighter styles, some excellent.

1999: Moderate quality; sometimes too soft. The best still have life left in them.

1998: Good for the best houses. Most have waved goodbye, but there are some great wines with surprising longevity.

1997: A lesser year rescued by a warm harvest period. Most past their best.

1996: Great, though some now faded. Record ripeness and acidity. Many great wines.

1995: Very good, with some long-lived wines.

1993: A weak year with a rain-sodden harvest. Few very good wines made. Fewer remain.

1990: Very good; rich wines but many are now fully mature.

Tim Hall’s tasting notes and scores for 24 Deutz Berceaux Vinothèque wines

The wines below are listed by vintage, youngest to oldest, then by score.

Related content

Deutz Champagne: Producer profile

Ageing gracefully: Laying down Champagne

How to store Champagne at home