BJÖRNSTIERNE ANTONSON
MY first meeting will be with the timid and elegant Jean-Marc Lallier-Deutz. He is ready and stands out in the yard by the famous angel statue that adorns Amour de Deutz’s labels when I drive in through the magnificent gate in the heart of the medieval city Aÿ. With a firm handshake and subsequent Nordic hug, he greets me and welcomes me into the house where he grew up.
We walk through the small dining room adorned with stunning Romantic art that once hung at shows in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. I am immediately reminded of all the times when we drank magic magnum bottles from the 1970s together. With brisk steps, we go up the rickety and curving staircase and walk through the two living rooms, which look like they could have been used in Sofia Coppola’s film about Marie Antoinette. Finally, we end up in the fairylike flower garden. We walk by some yellow roses, and we stop to smell. He bursts into a smile and sits down in one of the beautiful, but a bit uncomfortable, outdoor chairs from the 1800s. He starts a little hesitantly to talk about himself, but quickly warms up. Vivid and crisp with a gentle voice, he talks about his childhood and his presentday life. Between anecdotes, he fixes his wavy fringe before taking new air to beautifully and committedly deliver the next episode of his life.
Jean-Marc Lallier-Deutz is as rare a man as the champagne that his label carries. He breathes Aÿ throughout. He was actually born in a car outside Aÿ and raised in the Champagne soil just like the famous champagne houses he represents. He grew up on the estate and has had the famous entertainment rooms as living rooms. He relates that the production rhythm always steered his upbringing, and he stresses that the life cycle of wine and vines still rules his calendar. When I ask him how he was as a child, Jean-Marc responds that he was shy, but very curious and attentive. “If I wanted to do stupid things, I did so with my older brother, who likes to take risks. None of us liked the office—it was the cellar that attracted us. We loved to taste the grape must, hide from the workers in the cellars, and play hide-and-seek down there.”
But the highlight was probably seeing the bottles disgorged by hand. Jean-Marc has very clear scent memories from his childhood, molded by wine production: earthy, yeasty, floral, and fruity. Nowadays, his favourite scents are nuts, honey, vanilla, a generous warm and friendly atmosphere, and the healthier scents
