Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 1996 Champagne 75cl

Sir Winston Churchill's relationship with Pol Roger dates back to 1945 when, during a luncheon given by the British ambassador to France after the liberation of Paris, Churchill met the charming and captivating Odette Pol-Roger. A friendship began which, indulged by his wife Clementine, lasted until his death in 1965. Each year on his birthday, Odette would send Churchill a case of vintage champagne. So close was his relationship with the family that upon his death, Pol Roger put black-bordered labels on all of their bottles destined for the UK. In 1975, Pol Roger went one step further and named their prestige cuvée after him, producing it in the robust and mature style that he liked so much. The exact composition of this cuvée is a family secret but it is likely that Pinot Noir dominates 70-80% of the blend with the remainder being Chardonnay. The grapes are all from Grand Cru vineyards which were under vine during Churchill's lifetime.

Weather: The 1996 vintage was a standout year: one of, if not the, best of the last twenty. A warm beginning to June followed by a cooler end provided favourable growing conditions and the weather fluctuation resulted in staggered flowering of the Chardonnay grapes. September was sunny but mild with light scattered showers creating incredible grape maturation with high sugar and acidity levels. This unique sugar/acidity balance combined with small, concentrated berries revealed an aromatic depth rarely seen in Champagne.

News Article: Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 1996 placed third in our Sir Winston Churchill Vertical Tasting in June 2016 with James Simpson MW. Read the full write-up here.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand Cru
Grape Varieties: Family Secret | Likely 70-80% Pinot Noir, 20-30% Chardonnay
Ageing: 10 years on the lees
Dosage: 8 g/l
Drink: Now to 2030+

Tasting Note: A clear yellow-gold with a fine stream of bubbles. On the nose initial notes of nuts and butter. On the palate the initial freshness leads onto a full-bodied flavour with heady notes of violet and some light citrus fruits. The finish is superb and very long with a lasting balance of ripe fruits.

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: Damien Cambres
Winery Location: Épernay | Champagne, France
Champagne Region: Côte des Blancs
Annual Production (bottles): 1,600,000

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The Busy Wine Lovers Guide to Pol Roger wine-searcher.com, 7th May 2015

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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.