Community Tasting Note

csimm wrote:

Sunday, March 26, 2023 - At Restaurant Matafan, Chamonix, France.

Normally I try to steer clear of 2011 Champagne, finding many of them to be overly lithe and mineral (AKA: lacking fruit and depth of flavor compared to other vintages). I know I'm supposed to somehow find love for "challenging" vintages and better learn to appreciate how wine is simply a reflection of how the season influenced the noble grape. But, sometimes vintages just blow hard, and how that manifests into wine can equally stink. Sure, in academe, one can love every child and find the beauty in all of God's creature and all that. In industry and as a consumer, some stuff just ain't all that good.

All that aside, this Deutz was a pleasant Champagne (and no, pleasant isn't code for boring). Was it a showstopper? Um, no. But it held an interesting character that highlighted more herbal flavorings: tarragon and fresh oregano to be precise, along with chalky minerality and higher register lemon and unripe stone fruit notes. These are not flaws from a tasting standpoint to be sure, much like pyrazine in red wine isn't necessarily a flaw (even though there's an argument to be made that it is indeed a technical flaw in ripeness), and "in balance," these notes offer what could be interpreted as complexity and layerings of flavor.

Sound like I'm tiptoeing around some elephant in the room that essentially is my attempt to hide the fact that this Champagne was less interesting than it really is? ...as though I'm trying to avoid getting to the point about this wine? Perhaps, and maybe my lengthy explanation does more harm than good, but in the end I'll say this: I quite liked this Champagne. I wouldn't run out and buy it again, but it was just what a white fish-driven meal needed. I might even be underscoring because of the stigma of the vintage here. Score higher if fruit flavor scares you. The Deutz is more of a slow burn experience, contemplative and symphonic.

In the end, this is for those who like classicism and more strictness in their Champagne, much like Chablis traditionalists need their best Clos to taste like a fossilized Trilobite before they anoint it of proper typicity. This Deutz was perfect for the occasion and the meal; so, what more could you ask for? (Ya, ya...I know...you can always ask for more, just ask my Great Pyrenees - "More, now, right now, more, more, more...!!"). If you get frustrated when you don't instantly get 1,000 likes on your Instagram when you post some rando photo of you making duck face while waiting at the bus stop, then the Deutz is likely not for you.

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