Pol Roger was just nineteen when he founded his eponymous estate in 1849. Still a family-run enterprise, fifth generation Billy de Hubert manages the House today, ensuring they remain fiercely independent and unrivalled in their reputation for quality. With 89-hectares of vineyards supplying half of their grape requirements and illustrious premises containing immaculate facilities including pristinely polished stainless-steel tanks that reflect shiny tiles and snow-white surfaces, their success is a consequence of incredibly personal attention to detail.
Remarkably, a small team of less than ten complete everything in the cellar by hand and Pol Roger boast four of the region's remaining fifteen riddlers, who impressively turn over 60,000 bottles a day. The House use no oak in the winemaking process and their double cold-settling of the grape juice contributes to the pure-fruity style of their champagnes. Indeed, it is this style and their respect for tradition that initiated Sir Winston Churchill's lifelong attachment to Pol Roger, who famously insisted: "In defeat I need it, in victory I deserve it." Today, their prestige cuvée is named in honour of the great man.
Cellar Master: Dominique Petit
Winery Location: Épernay | Champagne, France
Champagne Region: Côte des Blancs
Annual Production (bottles): 1,600,000
Pol Roger Réserve NV has long been recognisable of the distinctive white foil closure, hence it is commonly referred to simply as 'White Foil'. A blend of all three grape varieties from thirty still base wines, White Foil is an often an assemblage of three or four different vintages. The Pinot Noir contributes body, depth of character and life-extending tannins and comes from the villages of the Montagne de Reims; the Chardonnay provides the lightness, elegance and finesse and is drawn from Épernay itself and the villages of the Côte des Blancs; and the Pinot Meunier supplies youthful freshness, vigour and plump character with the grapes coming from the Vallée d'Epernay. The bottle code indicates packaging date: the first digit denotes the year and the next three digits the day of that year.
Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand & Premier Cru | Pinot Noir: Ambonnay, Louvois, Mailly, Mardeuil, Verzenay, Verzy | Chardonnay: Chouilly, Cuis, Moussy, Oiry, Oger, Vertus | Pinot Meunier: Brugny, Chavot, Damery, Monthelon, Pierry, Troissy, Vandières, Venteuil, Vincelles
Grape Varieties: 33% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Meunier
Reserve Wine: 20-30%
Ageing: 3 years on the lees
Dosage: 9 g/l
Drink: Now to 2023
Tasting Note: On the nose, the champagne is dominated by green apple and brioche. On the palate there is a certain nuttiness and a hint of honey supporting the freshness of the acidity. UK stock receives an additional 6 months post-disgorgement aging so it is ready to drink upon release but cellaring for a few years will reveal greater depths. Brut Réserve is the perfect apéritif champagne, never released until at least three years old.
Pol Roger Brut Réserve NV 3L jeroboams come presented in a beautifully branded wooden case.
“Freshness, intensity and spicy complexity into its second life. Magnum”
Jancis Robinson MW,
JancisRobinson.com,
Sep 2015
16/20
“Tasted blind. Overall the judges' third favourite out of the 12 wines. Pale greenish gold. Not much nose. Off-dry start. Then some evident acidity. A bit sweet and sour. Well made and assertive in terms of structure. Clean and neutral. A tad stolid. But good length. Quite a sturdy champagne. Just a bit sweet and sour.”
Jancis Robinson MW,
JancisRobinson.com,
Oct 2016
+
16.5/20
“Quite rich on the nose - and palate. Good balance though. Do they make Pure (tasted just before) just to show us the virtues of the regular cuvée?! ”
Roger Voss,
Wine Enthusiast,
Dec 2014
+
90/100
“Full and ripe, this offers balance between rich white fruits and a smooth texture that is cut with acidity. The wine is in great harmony with itself, ready to drink while also allowing the possibility of bottle aging.”
Jancis Robinson MW,
JancisRobinson.com,
Nov 2014
+
16/20
“Based on 2008 and disgorged Oct 2013.
Solid and off dry. (Dosage 9 g/l.) A substantial mouthful.”
Alison Napjus,
Wine Spectator,
Oct 2014
+
90/100
“Fresh and open-knit, this chalky Champagne offers lively notes of green apple and crunch white peach fruit, spring blossom, biscuit and candied lemon zest. Drink now through 2018.”
Bought directly from Pol Roger, this is currently held in bond at Vinotheque in Burton-On-Trent, where it is cellared in ideal conditions and for same day deliveries small quantities are held in our London offices in a top of the range Eurocave
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Pol Roger History
Champagne Pol Roger has been producing exceptional Champagne for over 165 years. To this day the house remains small, family-owned, fiercely independent and unrivalled in its reputation for quality. Indeed, it is this quality which initiated Sir Winston Churchill’s lifelong attachment to Champagne Pol Roger, who famously insisted: “In defeat I need it, in victory I deserve it”.
The first sale of champagne was in January 1849 when family circumstances forced Pol Roger to set up a business; his father had contracted an incurable disease and could no longer carry on his practice. The customer was a merchant in Aÿ, the native village of Pol Roger. The firm developed rapidly, moving to Épernay from Aÿ in 1851.
In 1899 the founder died, by which point the brand had acquired enviable recognition for just a short fifty years of trading. However, disaster struck in February 1900 when part of the cellars and winery building collapsed, destroying over 500 casks and one and a half million bottles. Maurice and George, who had taken over from their father, had to work tirelessly to get the company back on track.
Maison Pol Roger now owns 91 hectares of vineyards on prime sites in the Vallée de la Marne, the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs and is 55% self-sufficient in its grape requirements. The cellars run for 7km underground and are on three levels, the deepest known as the ‘cave de prise de mousse’ at 34m below street level. As the name suggests, this is where the wine undergoes its secondary fermentation in bottle. The fact that this deep cellar is at a natural temperature of 9°C or less, rather than a normal cellar temperature of 11-12°C, prolongs this fermentation and contributes to the quality and particular style of the champagnes and their famously fine bubbles.
The Pol Roger range starts with a non-vintage Brut Réserve and the rest of the champagnes are vintage-dated: Brut Vintage, Brut Rosé and Blanc de Blancs, as well as their prestige cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.
Great Britain is, and always has been, the premier export market for Champagne Pol Roger, a tradition dating back to the 1860s. Even as early as 1855, Pol Roger was making Brut Champagne as he knew that Britain favoured this style of sparkling wine.
Sir Winston Churchill’s predilection for Pol Roger was sealed in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, when he met and formed a lasting friendship with the captivating Odette Pol-Roger, who encapsulated Churchill’s romantic vision of France. For the remainder of his lifetime, Pol Roger was to remain Sir Winston’s champagne of choice, supplied to wherever his engagements demanded from what he described as “the world’s most drinkable address”: 44 Avenue de Champagne, Épernay. The friendship between the Churchill and Pol Roger families endures to this day.
Created in tribute to Pol Roger’s most illustrious devotee, the prestige cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is appropriately composed of only the best grapes, from only the best vineyard sites to which Pol Roger have access and from only the best vintage years declared by the House. As Sir Winston himself once declared: “My tastes are simple. I am easily satisfied with the best!” The precise formula is a family secret, but invariably is true to the style that Sir Winston himself preferred: robust, full-flavoured and mature. We suspect Pinor Noir dominates most releases, with 20-30% Chardonnay completing the blend.
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