"A bright straw gold champagne with a very fine mousse. The bouquet has delicious maturity with notes of hazelnut and buttered toast, whilst the palate is still closed and chalky initially but with 30 minutes in the glass it fills out to a creamy richness. We kept the sealed bottle in the fridge for a couple of days and it had completely blossomed and rounded out after 48 hours – a sure sign that this has plenty of upside ahead. A rich sumptuous wine with excellent length. Susan McCraith MW - May 2014"
Pol Roger founded his Champagne house in 1849 and it is still proudly independent, under family control. It owns 89 hectares of vineyards on prime sites of the Vallée d'Epernay and on the Côte de Blancs. Its cellars run for 7km and are on three levels, the deepest known as the 'cave de prise de mousse' at 33m below street level. As the name suggests this is where the wine undergoes its secondary fermentation in bottle. The fact that this deep cellar is at 9oC or less rather than the normal cellar temperature of 11-12oC prolongs this fermentation and contributes to the quality and particular style of the wines and their famously fine bubbles.
Pol Roger Vintage Report;
The first days of 2004 began under the snow and in the cold, but an unusual mildness set in from 5th January. Apart from a few short sharp periods of cold in February and March, this mild and dry weather continued until the spring. Full flowering started on 14th June for the Chardonnay, on 18th June for the Pinot Noir and on 19th June for the Meunier. A wet and cool early August retarded the maturation of the grapes but the warmth and sunshine during the first three weeks of September encouraged exceptional development of the bunches and the grapes were very healthy at the time of the harvest. The earliest parcels were picked on the 18th September with the latest on the 2nd October in excellent sunny conditions. A record crop but with healthy ripe grapes.
