Day 5. Wednesday 29 June 2011
The heat of the previous two days had been dissipated by a huge storm on Tuesday night. Hail was present in some regions of Champagne with reports of extensive damage in the vineyards north of Reims.
Fortunately there was no reported damage in the regions surrounding Ay.

We had a relaxed start to Wednesday as our first appointment was not untill 10.00am and this involved a short 100 metre walk from our Castel Jeanson to Deutz. Deutz was founded in 1838 by William Deutz and on the day of our visit we were hosted by Jean-Marc Lallier-Deutz. Jean-Marc is the perfect host as he had strong coffee ready to serve our tour members on arrival in the mansion occupied by William Deutz. A little heart starter whilst he told us about the Deutz family history.

After the coffee we walked through the stunning gardens to the cellars where we received an explanation of the Deutz winemaking philosophy and the origins of their grapes. We were also lucky enough to see the disgorging line in operation as well as explore the underground caves. The caves miraculously return to a room with in the Mansion and from here we received an excellent tasting of Deutz champagnes.
Champagnes tasted were Brut Classic NV from magnum, Blanc de Blancs 2004, Cuvee William Deutz 1999 and Rose NV.

Although we had come to the end of our tour at Deutz this was not the end of the day for Deutz Champagne as the house was extremely generous and delivered two magnums of the Brut Classic to our hotel to be served as an aperitif before dinner that night. Our special thanks to Jean-Marc Lallier-Deutz and Philippe Rivet for this kind gesture.

Before dinner we conducted our second evening tasting and the theme was champagnes made from two or more grape varieties. Champagnes tasted were; Bollinger 2002, Jacquesson 2000 and Krug Grand Cuvee followed by the two magnums of Deutz Brut Classic. A fabulous lead in to the wood fired pizzas we consumed for dinner.