2002 Champagne Pol Roger, Brut
Critics reviews
Produced from 20 grand and premier cru vineyards in the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs, 40% Chardonnay, 60% Pinot Noir, aged 9 years in the cellars before being released.
This is beginning to display the initial hints of maturity, with a hint of reduction to the otherwise pretty notes of baked bread, lemon rind, and green apple. There is excellent complexity to the reserved and moderately austere finish, which is not quite bone dry but is close to it. This is a very classy but aloof effort that will most please those who enjoy a certain restraint and understatement in their bubbles. As the description suggests, this could be enjoyed now or held for a few more years first.
Allen Meadows, Burghound.com (September 2012)
Pol Roger's 2002 Brut Vintage is showing beautifully, bursting from the glass with an expressive bouquet of confit lemon and pear mingled with nuances of brioche, wheat toast, honeycomb and dried white flowers. Full-bodied, broad, and textural, this is a rich, vinous champagne that's ample and complex, underpinned by lively acids, and concludes with a long, saline finish.
Drink 2015 - 2035
William Kelley, Wine Advocate (July 2020)
Magnum
Mid straw with an extremely fine bead. Lovely, mature, but not old nose. Really zesty with toffee Granny Smith notes and just a hint of apple peel. Whistle-clean with an undertow of something. The word ambergris came to mind, and when I looked it up, it did indeed seem appropriate (I especially liked the reference to old churches). Really compact and impressive.
Drink 2014 - 2032
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (May 2024)
This is a deep and profound 2002 with such fine bubbles that have the texture of fine silk. Full body. Extremely dense and compact. It just rolls over your palate—superb quality and satisfaction after all this time.
Drink now
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (September 2019)
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.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Pol Roger’s decision to delay the release of their 2002 Vintage Champagne until 2012 defied commercial logic but was driven by quality. The 2002 vintage, regarded as the best since 1990, benefitted from nine years of ageing in Pol Roger’s deep cellars at a constant 9°C, allowing for perfect autolytic development and a fine, persistent mousse.
Under cellar master Dominique Petit, formerly of Krug, the wine underwent meticulous preparation: a traditional blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, cold-settling, cool fermentation in stainless steel, full malolactic fermentation, and extended bottle ageing. Hand-riddled by remueurs, the result is a Champagne of remarkable richness, balance, and length.
Berry Bros. & Rudd
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