First taste: Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 2009

Launched with suitable panache in a Mayfair Art Gallery, the 2009 vintage of Pol Roger’s Sir Winston Churchill is the 18th manifestation of a truly outstanding cuvée, its first outing, the 1975, introduced to the market in magnum in 1984. Christian de Billy, father of the current president of Pol Roger, Hubert, has witnessed every single one of them.

‘It is a very personal, almost intimate wine’, his son advises. ‘We wish to capture the essence of the great man in a style which is robust and powerful for sure, but also relatively mature and a source of unfailing pleasure’.

Churchill drank vintage Pol Roger only, most of it from the celebrated trio of vintages, 1928, 1945 and 1947. It has been calculated that he polished (Pol-ished!) off more than 42,000 bottles in the period from 1908 until his death in 1965, a feat of dedication which was only intensified when he fell under the spell of Odette Pol-Roger in 1944 at a luncheon in Paris to celebrate the Liberation of France.

Although the precise make-up is a secret, Hubert reveals that the 2009 contains a little more Pinot Noir than usual, certainly more than the magisterial 2008, in itself a hard act to follow. It would not be unfair to speculate that the volume may approximate 80% of the wine, reflected in the powerful, almost savoury notes already evidenced and a warm generosity of structure bequeathed by the sunny year.

Indeed, after a rather lacklustre spring and squally early summer, all went swimmingly from there on in, with a warm to very warm August and perfect azure skies for the harvest which took place between 8 – 21 September. Thereafter cold settling, a cool stainless-steel first fermentation, and a leisurely sojourn in the deep chalky cellars beneath No 44 Avenue de Champagne, memorably described by Churchill as ‘the most drinkable address in the world’. The wine was eventually bottled with 7g/l of sugar by way of dosage and allowed to rest a little longer in bottle before release.

‘We are more modest than the Bordelais’, says Hubert, with a gentle smile. ‘We do not describe every vintage as the vintage of the century. The 2009 is, however, undoubtedly a great wine’ – maybe less of a keeper than the already legendary 2008, and more of a drinker. Un vin de plaisir, in other words; a wine to suit the hedonistic side of the Churchillian psyche, while never undermining his capacity to inspire and lead. A Burgundian swagger, and an immediate appeal. The great man captured in a great wine.  

Pol Roger, Sir Winston Churchill 2009