"Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Members were delighted to welcome Cassidy Dart from Pol Roger, who had come along to Lady Margaret Hall for the evening to present to us a selection of Pol Roger’s Champagnes.

Pol Roger is famously known as being Winston Churchill's favourite Champagne. Churchill apparently prized Champagne above all other drinks, and Pol Roger above all other Champagnes. He famously had a long friendship with Odette Pol Roger, and every year on his birthday she would send him a case of vintage Champagne. Pol Roger now name their prestige cuvee after him -  Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill.

Pol Roger is an independent and relatively small Champagne house, producing around 1.5 million bottles a year (compare that for example to Moet & Chandon’s 26 million bottles a year). Nonetheless it is a well-known brand and the wines it produces are typically highly rated.  

One thing slightly different about Pol Roger (apart from still being family owned) is that it owns a lot of its own vineyards in Champagne. By comparison, most Champagne houses buy in most of their grapes rather than growing them themselves. Cassidy said that this has been a great help with Pol Roger’s success over the years. A more recent bonus has been the appointment of former Krug winemaker Dominic Petit for their 1999 vintage onwards.

Pure Extra Brut (non-vintage) vs Reserve Brut (non-vintage)

The first wine we tasted that evening was the Pure Brut. This is Pol Roger’s zero dosage Champagne, which means that it is absolutely bone dry! It is made from a blend of a third each of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The wine was delightful! On the nose it was expressive with fresh aromas of lemon zest, green apples, and brioche. The palate was also fresh, with a racy acidity and with a note of peach coming through as well as the flavours from the nose. Apparently, Tom Stevenson loved this wine despite being generally nonplussed by zero dosage Champagnes.

We compared the Pure Brut with Pol Roger’s non-vintage Brut Reserve. This has 9g/l of sugar in it, compared to 0g/l in the previous wine. Like the Pure wine, this was fruity in style, elegant and well balanced. The wine was also excellent, and also had potential to improve with age. Cassidy said that it is perfectly possible to keep good non-vintage Champagne for five to seven years.

2004 Blanc de Blancs vs 2004 Pol Roger Brut

Next we tasted a 2004 Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay) alongside a 2004 Pol Roger Brut (60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay). The Blanc de Blancs had been aged on its lees for nine years and it tasted softer than the previous two wines. It was zesty with notes of lemon, peach, brioche. Again, it was a very well balanced wine, with racy acidity balancing the fruit, and a long and pleasant finish.

The 2004 Pol Roger (blend) was more restrained than the Blanc de Blancs. It showed notes of citrus fruit, greengage and yeast. The Blanc de Blancs was drinking well now but the blend may have needed a little more ageing.

Cassidy explained that the 2004 vintage had a hard time following the 2002 vintage because under near ideal conditions the grapes ripened more fully in 2002, achieving an extra degree of alcohol compared to the grapes harvested in 2004.

2002 Brut

We tasted the 2002 vintage next and, although it was less expressive on the nose than the 2004 Blanc de Blancs, it had a great richness and a very long finish. This in combination with being perfectly in balance gives it the potential to age for a long time yet.

2006 Rosé Brut

The penultimate wine of the evening was the 2006 Pol Roger Rose Brut. This was an excellent rosé Champagne. It had a lovely salmon colour, fresh red berry aromas on the nose, and lots of red fruit flavours and richness on the palate, and still with good acidity, a fine balance and finesse.

Rich (non-vintage)

The final wine we tried (Pol Roger Rich) was a throw-back to the nineteenth century when most Champagne was made in a sweet style. The “rich” style is a precise replica of the Brut Reserve NV but with a little more sugar thrown in so the finished product ends up with 39 g/l in it, which makes it taste really rather sweet! Apparently it works well as an 11am pick me up!

Cassidy was a very good presenter and was very well informed; members were appreciative of a memorable and entertaining evening.

James Williamson