An invitation from the German importer Véritable made it possible for me to visit the Maison for the first time in July 2024. Shortly before the hustle and bustle of the actual birthday celebrations, this was an ideal time to get a concentrated picture of the most British of all Maisons.
The history
Inspired by family circumstances to found a champagne house in 1847, Pol Roger focussed early on exports to Great Britain. The family history shows that Pol Roger had favoured dry champagne since 1855. Because he knew that the English had a preference for it. The house grew rapidly, even after Pol Roger’s death in 1899, when his sons obtained a presidential decree allowing the founder’s name in the form Pol-Roger to become the new family name, while the company continued to be called Pol Roger. Soon celebrities and the aristocracy were among the customers. In 1911, the Grande Marque became a purveyor to the British monarchy. Three years earlier Winston Churchill had become a customer of the Maison. After a meeting with Odette Pol Roger in Paris in 1944 at the latest, he was never to miss an opportunity to demonstrate his preference for Pol Roger.
As a family business in the 20th century, it was a rock of tradition. But the company could not completely shut itself off from modernity. At the turn of the millennium, managers from outside the family took over the operational business for the first time. This involved considerable investment in the cellar and vineyards. The production facilities were renovated between 2001 and 2011. In the following years, the family home in Épernay, built in the 19th century, was modernised. At the same time, Dominique Petit, Krug’s former head of cave, arrived in 1999. For him, it was a step out of the world of oak and into the world of stainless steel. His successor was Damien Cambres in 2018. Laurent d’Harcourt is now Chairman of the Maison. In addition, Hubert de Billy as Head of Commercial and Public Relations and Véronique Collard de Billy as President of the Supervisory Board hold leading positions from the fifth generation of the family. With Bastien Collard de Billy as Secretary General, the first member of the sixth generation has been working in the company since 2020.
What makes the Maison special
Winston Churchill probably appreciated the full-bodied style dominated by Pinot Noir. This led to the bon mot that Pol Roger was the champagne of gentlemen. It was once remarked that, with the exception of the property in Cramant, the house had only average vineyard holdings. In fact, the Maison did not buy its own vineyards until 1955 and then took care of their cultivation quite late. Today, the vineyards cover 92 hectares. From these some around half of the grapes for the average of 2 million bottles produced. In order to preserve the style, the house only buys grapes from the municipalities (or neighbouring villages) in which Pol Roger also has its own property. If a diorama in the house’s production hall is anything to go by, Pol Roger owns vineyards in 23 communes. In addition to Cramant, these include the Grand Crus Avize, Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzy, as well as a 3.5-hectare Clos in Pierry.
However, the real key to the quality of Pol Roger lies in the 10-kilometre-long cellar. This is deeper and, at 9 degrees Celsius, up to two degrees colder than most other houses. This has consequences for lactic acid fermentation in particular. At lower temperatures, this takes longer, which many believe is responsible for the finesse and longevity of the wines. Since 2011, the first fermentation has taken place entirely in stainless steel, while the reserves are kept in concrete tanks. Pol Roger is the last of the big houses to continue to shake the bottles completely by hand (‘remuage’). Four of the last ten remuageurs in Champagne work for Pol Roger. Of greater importance, however, is the art of assemblage, which Pol Roger passes down from generation to generation. The family is always responsible for the final blending. Representatives of two generations must still be involved in the decision: A guarantee of unique stylistic continuity.
The new production facility
In 2024, a new production facility was inaugurated, which cost the house 50 million euros. The new building had become necessary after Champagne was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015. Until then, Pol Roger had been the last champagne house to maintain not only the production but also the delivery of its champagnes at the historic site in Épernay’s Avenue de Champagne. However, with around 450,000 visitors a year, it is one of the region’s main attractions and was now to be freed from heavy goods traffic. In any case, the old site was in danger of bursting at the seams following an increase in production from 1.5 to over 2 million bottles. As a move to a greenfield site was out of the question for the traditional company, it turned to a plot of land owned by the Maison just a few steps away. This had fallen into disuse after a landslide in 1900.
First planned in 2016, construction work began four years later. Due to the complicated subsoil, a new foundation was first laid using 298 piles up to 35 metres long, on which a floor area of 18,000 m² was then built on four levels, including new tunnels to the Maison’s existing 10 kilometres of chalk cellars. The building was inaugurated in April, following its initial commissioning in 2023. It contains the facilities for disgorging, fitting the bottles with foil caps, sleeves and labels, as well as packaging and delivery. At the heart of the plant is a modular, robot-assisted packaging machine from the German Schubert Group (pictured here). Large formats and special bottlings are still packaged by hand. To mark Pol Roger’s 175th birthday this year, a newly created bust of Sir Winston Churchill, probably the brand’s most famous admirer, was unveiled in the company’s courtyard in June.
The current portfolio
During my visit, I was able to taste the entire range. Brut Réserve, currently base vintage 2019 with reserves until 2015. Beautiful fruit, lively mousse, with noticeable dosage. Rich Demi-sec with 45 grams of dosage comes from other tanks with a higher acidity level. Beautifully balanced and harmonious. Pure Extra-Brut is actually always a Brut nature without dosage. The wines for this have a higher maturity and more fruit and spend additional time on the lees. It is difficult to taste after the rich and appears somewhat austere and lean. Blanc de Blanc 2015 has seven years of bottle fermentation. Notes of ginger and citrus, with wonderful purity and good length. The powerful Brut Vintage 2018 (60 PN | 40 Ch) shows a subtle creaminess and is remarkably fresh for the hot vintage. The distinctive, vinous Rosé 2018 is basically the same blend as the Brut Vintage, but with an assemblage of 15 per cent Pinot Noir (Bouzy, Ambonnay, Cumières).
I tasted the final Winston Churchill 2015 for the fourth time. In the past, I have rated it very differently (between 92 and 96 points). And this time, too, it left me rather puzzled. Perhaps it is simply in its shell at the moment. For dinner in the evening at the Maison, we first savoured the excellent 2008 Blanc de Blancs and 2009 Vintage Brut, followed by two world premieres, the first cuvées from Pol Roger’s new Vinothèque series. They are, as they say, ‘historically disgorged’, i.e. at the same time as the bottles from the classic release. But they then matured in Pol Roger’s cool cellars under the best possible conditions. We tasted Vintage Rosé 1999 and then Winston Churchill 1999, the former showing not only what complex food companions great rosé champagnes can be. And that this still underestimated category can mature superbly! And the majestically luminous ‘Winston’ showed that, at 25 years of age, it has only just reached its adulthood.
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Stefan Pegatzky / Time Tunnel / Images
