Pol Roger Anniversary
ByThis is the year for Pol Roger, and Sebastian Payne and I were lucky enough to be invited to share some of the fun and a very fine celebration dinner.
The occasion was to mark 21 years of Pol Roger UK ltd which acts as Pol’s representative here in the UK
Pol Roger's Hubert de Billy & Patrice Noyelle
There were many lovely wines from the Pol Roger portfolio, including youthful 1990s from Josmeyer and Drouhin and a quite sensational blanc de blancs 2000 from Pol Roger itself. There was good food including venison which went well with the Drouhin Burgundy but well too with Pol Roger’s Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 1999, proof if ever there was that Champagne is an excellent food wine.
There were two highlights in Pol Roger’s year worth mentioning. Their brut reserve non vintage was chosen for the Royal Wedding. No mean achievement in itself. And just before Pol Roger hosted a memorable trip for four Wine Society members and their other halves which I had the pleasure to lead.
And, I almost forgot, Pol Roger have had their street renamed after Churchill.
This has been Pol’s year without a doubt, and that before the much anticipated release of the 2002 vintage. More of which later.
Marcel Orford-Williams
Champagne Buyer
Over the last 6 months I have had the pleasure of tasting a number of English sparkling wines including Nyetimber (already offered by the WS) and the Gusbourne Estate. They appear to have the bottle age and flavour lacking in many champagnes of a similar price and I was wondering whether the Society might consider offering more in 2012.
The Society is an enthusiastic supporter of English sparkling wine. The chalk Downs provide the right bedrock for growing the champagne grape varieties and culturally the UK is a centre of quality sparkling wine. Climate change means that it is possible to make good wine every year. The same is true for Luxembourg and Belgium where sparkling wine is also growing in quality and quantity. And it is true for Champagne itself where quality is probably at an all-time high.
We taste frequently from all the estates here at least once a year and we remain very open to new ideas and new wines. At the moment my feeling is that Nyetimber leads the pack and produces a mature style of wine. We are about to list the 2004 which will be very good. Ridgeview is also fine though different in style: crisper, younger and fruitier. Others are good too but in my view behind these two. I shall look forward to reviewing the range in 2012.