I really felt like sparkling wine tonight, but didn’t want to spend a bundle. I reached for some Domaine Chandon at the local bottlo but thought I’d give the Deutz a spin.
Whoops. On pouring, this wine shows a frothy, coarse mousse that almost instantly disappears. In its wake is left a basically non-existent bead. A bit like flat Diet Coke. The nose shows some bready characters, nothing especially interesting or complex, and slightly stale-smelling. The palate is more fruit-driven, with some attractive, round fruit flavours in the mix. The wine froths up again in the mouth, and the coarseness of the effervescence means this is isn’t altogether pleasant. On the plus side, the acidity seems well balanced and there’s some tasty fruit in there. But the textural dimension to this wine lets it down almost entirely, and I can’t find much sophistication anywhere in this wine.
For the price, I would expect more. I wonder if it was a bad bottle?
Deutz Marlborough Cuvée
Price: $A20
Closure: Cork
Date tasted: November 2007
Dang, what a bummer. I have fond memories of Deutz, though, so I wonder if it’s a bad bottle, or if quality’s gone downhill? (I last had some circa 2000.)
I’d also be very curious to know what the current status of Deutz NZ is. It always seemed odd that they’d licensed their name to Montana (I think that was the story) and that they pulled back from the joint venture at some point in the early 2000s… I never was able to piece it all together!
The wine was so odd that I strongly suspect a bad bottle — it had probably been sitting in the bottle shop fridge for ages. Next time I’ll get something higher rotation, like Yellow 😉
There’s a bit more about the partnership behind the wine on the Pernod Ricard NZ site.