Deutz Cuvée Blanc de Blancs 2006
Style: Sparkling White
Closure: Cork
Deutz Cuvée Blanc de Blancs 2006
Pick up
Burke Road
Camberwell VIC 3124
Australia
Producer: Deutz
Country: New Zealand
Region: Marlborough
Vintage: 2006
Critic Score: 95 and ★★★★★
Alcohol: 12.0%
Size: 750 ml
Drink by: Now
Best Sparkling Wine – 2009 Tri Nations Wine Challenge
Deutz sparkling wines are produced in Marlborough using the Méthode Traditionelle. Deutz produced their first Cuvée wine in 1990, following a historic collaboration in 1988 between the then Montana winery in New Zealand and the Champagne House of Deutz.
"Taut, elegant, powerful sparkling wine with the sort of perfumed aromatic character that I expect to find in champagne. It has an ethereal texture and delivers a pleasing mix of yeast autolysis, mineral and citrus flavours with great subtelty. Lovers of bottle aged sparkling wines can rest assured that this wine will cellar very well indeed." Bob Campbell MW
Expert reviews
"It's stylish and complex showing floral and yeasty flavours with an exquisitely fine mouthfeel. Simply stunning." 2009 Air New Zealand Awards - Trophy, Champion Sparkling Wine
"Taut, elegant, powerful sparkling wine with the sort of perfumed aromatic character that I expect to find in champagne. It has an ethereal texture and delivers a pleasing mix of yeast autolysis, mineral and citrus flavours with great subtelty. Lovers of bottle aged sparkling wines can rest assured that this wine will cellar very well indeed. Champagne Deutz provided initial technical support for the development of this brand but the quality of this wine owes more to winemaker experience and good Marlborough grapes." Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review - 95 points
"Made purely from chardonnay grapes, this fabulous fizz was voted best sparkler in the annual tri-nations challenge between NZ, South Africa and Australia. Brilliant with lemon cream biscuits, spritely lemon juice bite, and fresh green apple crunch characters. Thirst quenching with salmon, oysters and prawn nibbles. Sensational Value." Tony Love, Herald Sun ★★★★★
Awards
Best Sparkling Wine – 2009 Tri Nations Wine Challenge
About the winery
Limited by the physical constraints of the Champagne region, some Champagne houses looked to the New World during the 1980s. In 1988, a historic agreement was signed between the Montana winery in New Zealand (now Brancott Estate) and the Champagne House of Deutz. This resulted in 10 years of consultation that saw the French winemakers sharing their knowledge of sparkling winemaking and viticulture. The House of Deutz also helped Montana buy the necessary specialist equipment to make bottle-fermented sparkling wine, including a gentle Coquard wine press.
In 1990 the first Marlborough Deutz Cuvée wine was produced. "The resulting partnership flourished, and the Marlborough Deutz Cuvée we released in 1990 exceeded all our expectations, in both quality and sales," recalls Peter Hubscher, chief winemaker at Montana Wines. "An unexpected and more important benefit for us was that many of the winemaking techniques learnt could be transferred to improving the quality of our entry-level sparkling wine (Lindauer), which in turn created the opportunity for us to sell very large volumes of it in both the Australian and British markets."
Champagne Deutz's involvement ended when it became part of the Louis Roederer group in 1993. Meanwhile, Montana/Brancott (now part of Pernod-Ricard) retained rights in some markets to the Deutz Marlborough Cuvée name.
Deutz sparkling wines are produced from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Marlborough using the Méthode Traditionelle. The wines undergo a second fermentation in the bottle and are aged on yeast lees for two to three years before disgorgement. The wines are made principally from Wairau Valley fruit. Pinot Noir is mainly sourced from Kaituna Estate on the north side. Most of the Chardonnay comes from Renwick Estate, in the centre of the valley.
New Zealand
New Zealand is home to more than 700 wineries across 14 wine regions. The regions are Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury, Central Otago, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Marlborough, Martinborough*, Nelson, Northland, Waikato, Waipara Valley, Wairarapa and Waitaki Valley. * Martinborough is a sub-region of Wairarapa, however, as it is world renowned it is considered here to be a region to avoid confusion.
The wine regions in New Zealand stretch from latitudes 36°S (Northland) in the north (comparable in latitude to Jerez, Spain), to 45°S (Central Otago) in the south (comparable in latitude to Bordeaux, France). New Zealand's climate is maritime, producing cooler summers and milder winters than would be expected at similar latitudes in Europe.
Viticulture in New Zealand dates back to 1836 when British resident James Busby produced wine in the far north, but it wasn't until 1985 that the wine industry came of age when Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc garnered international attention and critical acclaim.
New Zealand is internationally renowned for Sauvignon Blanc (particularly from Marlborough), Pinot Noir (Central Otago, Martinborough and Waipara Valley), Chardonnay, Bordeaux-style blends of mainly Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (Hawkes Bay) and Syrah (Hawkes Bay). Sauvignon Blanc accounts for 63% of the area of the national vineyard, followed by Pinot Noir (14%), Chardonnay (8%), Pinot Gris (7%) and Merlot (3%).