A 20-year vertical of Pol Roger’s Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill

Nowhere is the historical entente between Champagne and the United Kingdom more keenly felt than at the house of Pol Roger.

Even before Sir Winston Churchill’s famed love affair with the white-foiled cuvées which he ordered – in copious quantities – throughout his life, this was a house that saw considerable success in the streets of London.

Scroll down for Tom Hewson’s top-scoring vintages of Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill

‘Pol Roger became one of the big three Champagne brands in London during the 1870s,’ explains James Simpson MW of Pol Roger UK.

‘Whether he had money or not, Churchill continued buying Pol Roger throughout his life,’ he adds, hinting that Churchill may have consumed – or at least ordered – as many as 42,000 bottles.

The ‘Churchill taste’

It was after Churchill’s death in 1965, though, that the house decided to create a cuvée in his honour, beginning with the 1975 vintage.

As the house’s Hubert de Billy explained to an avid group of collectors and Champagne fans who had gathered at London’s 67 Pall Mall to taste through 20 years of Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill in magnum: ‘We have a recipe for the other wines, but Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is different: we don’t speak about the Pol Roger taste, but we speak about the Winston Churchill taste.’

What Churchill seemed to like was Pinot Noir – and lots of it. Although the house doesn’t disclose the exact blend for the cuvée, it is almost always very close to a Blanc de Noirs, with Pinot Noir widely believed to be around 80% of the makeup.

Beyond this, details are a little harder to come by. This is a house that keeps its cards close to its chest, preferring to let the wines speak for themselves than to furnish customers with lengthy details about villages and vinifications.

De Billy pointed out, though, that we, ‘are not drinking what Churchill was drinking’. This year marks 150 years since the great man’s birth and much has changed in that time.

The wines of Churchill’s day would have been fermented in barrel (not stainless steel, as the house has done since the 1970s).

They would also have carried higher dosages (which would have included Cognac, too). The wines of the 1920s and 1930s, then, might have seemed rather sweet and heavy to modern palates.

‘It’s as close, though, as we can get in the modern way of making Champagne,’ De Billy explained.

Family ties

The link with the family remains, however. Churchill’s great-great grandson George Repard was present at this remarkable tasting – remarkable not least because 20 vintages were present, but also because they were sourced in magnum (with one jeroboam).

As magnums almost always age more slowly and gracefully than standard bottles, this was surely the coup which made the difference. 67 Pall Mall’s Paul Richards, who was charged with sourcing this special line-up, was understandably paying close attention as the magnums were opened.

‘Quite a few of the magnums are from Épernay, but some of the vintages have been more elusive,’ he explained before the event. ‘I hope the contents are all in the best shape they can possibly be.’

Champagnes of this age are notoriously delicate and, as expected, a handful of vintages were the victims of oxidation or cork issues.

The hit rate of fine bottles, though, was undoubtedly high for a tasting as ambitious as this (and much higher than would have been the case had the tasting been using 75cl), helped as it was by the presence of two magnums of each vintage.

Pinot power

Folk wisdom in Champagne dictates that the longest-ageing wines usually need a fair helping of Chardonnay for backbone, but in top vintages Cuvée Winston Churchill shows a gorgeous, fragrant Pinot power and decadent creamy, spicy richness of its own, which ages with engaging complexity.

The wines showed a marked change from the 1990 vintage onwards, becoming a little more tightly bound and fresher in style, with the sweet spot appearing to arrive at around 20 years of age for many magnums (and lasting for at least 10 years for the top wines).

‘Winston is a man of simple tastes: he is always prepared to put up with the best of everything,’ Churchill’s friend Lord Birkenhead once said. With modern vintages such as 2008 and 2012, though, there was plenty of cause for collectors to hope for the same.

Selected below were the top 10 wines from the tasting. The complete line-up tasted was: 1979, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 (oenothèque release), 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2015.

The 1988, 1990 and 1996 were not rated due to bottle variation.

Tom Hewson’s notes and scores for 10 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill vintages:

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