🏅James Suckling 94pts
🏅Vinous 90 pts
🏅Vivino 4.3
History
Pol Roger was born on 24 December 1831, the son of a lawyer. Beginning as a wholesaler of wine, he started his own champagne house in 1849, with the first growths released in 1853. He received an imperial and royal warrant for the Austro-Hungarian court.
The owners of Pol Roger are members of the Primum Familiae Vini. Pol Roger holds the current Royal Warrant as purveyors of champagne to Queen Elizabeth II.
Champagnes
The house's prestige label is the vintage Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill was oft to repeat Napoleon's maxim on champagne: "In victory, deserve it. In defeat, need it!" They also release three non-vintage cuvées, the Pure Brut (no added sugar), Brut Réserve and Rich (sweet), as well as three other vintage wines, the Brut Vintage, Blanc de blancs and Rosé Vintage.
Pol Roger Brut Vintage is typically a blend of 40% Chardonnay and 60% Pinot noir, although this can vary.
Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill
Pol Roger had been the favourite champagne of Sir Winston Churchill since 1908.After Churchill's death in 1965, Pol Roger placed a black border around the labels of Brut NV shipped to the United Kingdom. Madame Odette Pol-Roger (née Odette Wallace (1911-2000), a grand-daughter of the francophile art-collector Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet), whom Churchill had befriended at a party at the British Embassy in Paris in 1944, attended his funeral nearly 21 years later. In 1987, when the trees on Churchill's country retreat, Chartwell, were devastated by the Great Storm, the Pol-Roger family paid for much of the replanting.
In 1984, Pol-Roger introduced the Pinot noir-dominant Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. The first vintage of this cuvée (the one introduced in 1984) was the 1975, only released in magnum format. It has been followed by the 1979, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2012 vintages.This cuvée is typically released around ten years after its vintage year.
Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill replaced the Pol Roger P.R. Reserve Speciale at the top of the range. Reserve Speciale was a 50% Chardonnay and 50% Pinot noir blend from 100% rated grand cru vineyards. First released with the 1971 vintage, it continued to be produced alongside Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill until the 1988 vintage, when its production was terminated as Pol Roger felt no need to have two competing prestige cuvees.
🏅James Suckling 94pts
Attractive red berries, nectarines and biscuity notes with a hint of spice, too, and a sweet-smelling freshness to it. The palate delivers a very attractive and concentrated array of yellow stone fruit flavors. Smooth and creamy, sorbet-like finish.
🏅Vinous 90 pts
Pol Roger's 2008 Brut Vintage is bright and energetic, but also tightly wound and not fully expressive today. There is good energy to the orchard fruit and citrus driven flavors, not to mention plenty of acid-driven persistence. I would prefer to cellar the 2008 for at least a year or two to see what happens.
