Paul Dethune Brut Grand Cru, Champagne

Hall of Honour Tyson Stelzer's Champagne Guide 2020-2021

The Déthune family has tended to vines on the privileged slopes of Ambonnay since 1610, and produced their own wines since 1890.  Today, Pierre Déthune and wife Sophie sensitively manage seven hectares of 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay  entirely within the village.  Ten cuvées draw complexity and diversity from 34 different Ambonnay parcels vinified separately, some in large oak foudres and small oak ‘pièces’ from the forests of Champagne. ‘We want to show that the same grapes from the same village can produce seven different styles by varying the blends, the ageing and the use of oak,’ Sophie explains.  Their 50,000 bottles confidently express the luscious power and characterful poise of Ambonnay and quickly sell out every year.

Tyson Stelzer

Deep and rich aromatics of honeysuckle, spring jasmine, lime, grapefruit, yellow peach, fresh bread and sage. Deep and vinous, Ambonnay personified, ample, generous and with terrific width. Very mouthcoating flavours of figs, citrus, red cherry, grilled nuts, almond meal, savoury spice and burnt butter. What’s remarkable is its freshness and teasing elegance. Champagne doesn’t get any richer than Ambonnay, and this is very full bodied and yet so easy to drink and light on its feet. An absolute bargain. For lovers of Charles Heidsieck and Krug

For this non-vintage cuvée – their flagship wine, the introduction to the house style –  the Déthunes blend 70% Pinot Noir with 30% Chardonnay from the limestone-rich soils of  Ambonnay, and they incorporate a rather large percentage of reserve wine (50 percent)  in the blend including from a solera dating back 40 years, lending the wine its signature depth and grip. It’s a forceful, textural, opulent style of Champagne.