1999 Champagne Pol Roger, Sir Winston Churchill, Brut
Critics reviews
Antonio Galloni - 23/12/2010
Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com - Feb 2010
Berry Bros. & Rudd wines featured in The Wall Street Journal by Will Lyons - 21 June 2013
Will Lyons writes a weekly column for The Wall Street Journal. His humorous, informed, down-to-earth writing has been recognized in both the Glenfiddich and Roederer wine writing Awards. He began his career in London, as a wine merchant in St. James’s where he developed a love for the classic wines of Europe. He has written for a variety of publications including The Scotsman, Reader’s Digest, The Spectator and Decanter.
About this WINE
Pol Roger
Pol Roger is perhaps best known as Winston Churchill's favourite Champagne. The house remains family-owned and has a reputation for producing champagnes of finesse and elegance which age very well. Pol Roger Brut Rèserve Non-Vintage, made from equal parts of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, is consistently one of the very best on the market, largely due to the high proportion of aged reserve wines in the blend.
Pol Roger vintage wines, made from at least 60% Pinot Noir and up to 40% Chardonnay, are soft and fruit-driven in youth but, after ten years or so, develop great complexity and finesse. The Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, launched in 1984 and made from a secret blend, is a Champagne of exquisite finesse and balance and one that rivals the very best of the region.
Brut Champagne
Brut denotes a dry style of Champagne (less than 15 grams per litre). Most Champagne is non-vintage, produced from a blend from different years. The non-vintage blend is always based predominately on wines made from the current harvest, enriched with aged wines (their proportion and age varies by brand) from earlier harvests, which impart an additional level of complexity to the end wine. Champagnes from a single vintage are labelled with the year reference and with the description Millésimé.
Non-vintage Champagnes can improve with short-term ageing (typically two to three years), while vintages can develop over much longer periods (five to 30 years). The most exquisite and often top-priced expression of a house’s style is referred to as Prestige Cuvée. Famous examples include Louis Roederer's Cristal, Moët & Chandon's Dom Pérignon, and Pol Roger's Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.
Recommended Producers : Krug, Billecart Salmon, Pol Roger, Bollinger, Salon, Gosset, Pierre Péters, Ruinart
Champagne blend
Which grapes are included in the blend, and their proportion, is one of the key factors determining the style of most Champagnes. Three grapes are used - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.
26% of vineyards in Champagne are planted with Chardonnay and it performs best on the Côtes des Blancs and on the chalk slopes south of Epernay. It is relatively simple to grow, although it buds early and thus is susceptible to spring frosts. It produces lighter, fresher wines than those from Burgundy and gives finesse, fruit and elegance to the final blend. It is the sole grape in Blancs de Blancs, which are some of the richest long-lived Champagnes produced.
Pinot Noir accounts for nearly 40% of the plantings in Champagne and lies at the heart of most blends - it gives Champagne its body, structure, strength and grip. It is planted across Champagne and particularly so in the southern Aube district.
The final component is Pinot Meunier and this constitutes nearly 35% of the plantings. Its durability and resistance to spring frosts make the Marne Valley, a notorious frost pocket, its natural home. It ripens well in poor years and produces a soft, fruity style of wine that is ideal for blending with the more assertive flavours of Pinot Noir. Producers allege that Pinot Meunier lacks ageing potential, but this does not deter Krug from including around 15% of it in their final blends.
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Description
Toasted gingerbread, stone fruit and a hint of smoke on the nose. Broad and rich on the palate. This is another great example of Pol Roger at their finest. Drinking beautifully now, this would make a decadent treat with fish and chips!
A serendipitous luncheon with his soon-to-be muse Odette Pol Roger, proved to be the start of a very happy relationship between Churchill and the famous Champagne House, a relationship now in its twelfth vinous commemoration with the launch of the 1999 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, a wine made only in very special years. Challenging is perhaps an equally appropriate epithet for 1999, some untimely rain in September taking the edge off what hitherto looked set to be an excellent vintage, which has had to settle for recognition as merely a very good one. Very good indeed, in point of fact for the Pinot Noir, which dominates this blend, outweighing the Chardonnay by a factor of three to one.
1999 was the first vintage vinified by Dominique Petit, formerly of Krug, and perhaps it is not entirely whimsical to detect a trace of the Krug power and concentration here. But above and beyond that of course is the supreme elegance and harmony for which Pol Roger is famous, the wine demonstrating an almost baletic elegance on the tongue to belie its ten years of cellaring.
The mousse is generous and the fruit is both pure and powerful, backed up by a subtle minerality and gentle hints of ginger and spice. A long finish presages ageing potential until 2018. All in all a very worthy wine to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this great House.
Simon Field MW, Champagne Buyer
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