First taste: Champagne Pol Roger, Sir Winston Churchill 2012

Winston Churchill was already in his thirties when, in 1908, he placed his first formal order for Pol Roger; the merchant in question was Randolph Payne & Sons, the order for ‘1 dozen bottles of Pol Roger 1895’.

He certainly made up for this slow start, thereafter consuming somewhere in the region of 240,000 bottles, albeit in the more modestly sized Imperial Pint format. 

Scroll down for Simon Field MW’s Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 2012 tasting note and score

A luncheon in Great Britain’s Paris Embassy with Odette de Pol Roger added a Platonic twist of romance to the infatuation, its vinous legacy, now in in its 19^th edition, celebrated by the Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, always one of the most prestigious of the prestige cuvées.

When he was not enjoying the best of Pol Roger vintages (1928, 1935, 1945 and 1947 were the star performers of the time), Churchill applied himself to the task of saving the country from the Nazis and earning the undying affection of the nation.

The relationship between the families, built on mutual respect rather than commercial ties, continues as each new release is ‘approved’ by Churchill’s descendants, Randolph Churchill and Nicholas Soames.

I doubt that they found it difficult to approve the 2012, which is phenomenally good. This vintage was, in a way, made for this cuvée; both cleave to Pinot Noir (as the Champagne region itself did more in the past) and both lean towards elegant muscularity and subtle unravelling elegance.

Despite a somewhat earlier disgorgement than usual (7.5 years of ageing), the wine seduces immediately, far more obviously than its most illustrious recent precedents, 2002 and 2008, at the time of their release.

Hubert de Billy, fifth generation family member (great-great-grandson of Pol Roger), advises that the 2012 captures the best of both these years, the 2008 finesse enveloped by the 2002 generosity, its early accessibility belying a latent power and capacity for evolution.

Hubert suggests that the wine mirrors the man; ‘robust, full-bodied and effortlessly regal’, adding, with a wink, that if Sir Winston had been alive, he would probably have requisitioned the whole lot!

Vintage conditions

The 2012 vintage in Champagne was a vintage of two halves, the first half fantastically difficult (hail, rain, drought…. you name it), but the second the picture of warm and benevolent perfection.

The early challenges forced down the yield, thereby ensuring concentration and power across the palate. The fruit has been sourced from grand cru sites, all of which were under vine during the lifetime of Sir Winston; the recipe is secret, but the balance is heavily weighted in favour of Pinot Noir, once again a nod to the historical imperative.

A new installation (at No.1 Rue Sir Winston Churchill, where else!) was completed in 2012, furnished with stainless steel vats of varying sizes and enabling the (now retired) winemaker Dominique Petit, to accentuate the  best characteristics from the very best villages, villages such as Bouzy, Ay and Ambonnay in the Montagne de Reims and Oger in the Côte des Blancs.

The wine was disgorged in July of 2020 and dosed with 7g/L of sugar, consistent with other recent vintages but also with the House’s overall inclination gradually to lower the dosage.

A triumph from start to finish, the Sir Winston Churchill 2012 is one of the very best. The President of Pol Roger, Laurent d’ Harcourt, advises that we can expect wines of similar style and quality in 2015 and 2019. Oh joy! Churchill, he remarks, famously said ‘I am easily satisfied with the best’…. Laurent agrees that the 2012 captures the best of both 2008 and 2002 and says that Churchill would most certainly have ‘given the 2012 his blessing’.

One taste of this wonderfully generous, complete and effortlessly brilliant wine makes it very difficult not to concur. 

The wine

In the UK, Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill is widely available from fine wine merchants, at £785 per 6 x 75cl case IB ex .

See Simon Field MW’s Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 2012 tasting note and score

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