Pol Roger/Winston Churchill Dinner @ Atera

Another great dinner at Atera featuring twelve vintages of Sir Winston Churchill, three older Pol Roger BdB’s, a mag of Pol Roger Vintage Brut and a bottle of Pol Roger Rose.
Almost every bottle showed extremely well, and the food was, as usual, off the charts.

Notes with some more/better pics tomorrow.
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can’t wait.

cork tease.

No kidding!

Decided to do a Pol Roger theme with a focus on Sir Winston Churchill for my semi-annual dinner with the WineWorkshop. As usual, the venue was Atera.

Reception

’96 Pol Roger Brut Mag - I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was. A bit of smoky, yellow fruit. Full-bodied but not heavy. Crisp acidity on the finish. Plenty of years left to this out of this format. As good as any bottle of '96 Winston Churchill I’ve had. Staggering Minus

Flight 1

2006 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - buttered brioche on the nose. Yellow fruit (this will be a consistent pattern) with some citrus notes. A decent level of acidity but for a Champagne of this age, i would like a touch more. Excellent

2004 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - very similar aromas and flavors to the previous wine. Richness with just enough acidity so it isn’t fat. Excellent

Flight 2 - I served this flight out of age order with regard to the first flight. My reasoning was that my experience has been these two vintages have more bracing acidity than the previous two and I didn’t want the '04 and '06 to seem clumsy.

2008 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - only my second time having this vintage of SWC. Toasty aromas with yellow citrus and light floral notes. Rich palate with great acidity. Drinks extremely well already but I suspect it will stay that way for twenty plus years. Staggering minus

2002 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - the similarities between this and the '08 were striking as was the consistent style of the first four vintages. The '08 had slightly brighter acidity. Staggering Minus

Flight 3 - The Pleasant Surprise Flight

2000 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill Mag - some spice along with a bit of smoke and toast. Rich with some notes of honey. Surprising acidity and one of the best Champagnes from the vintage I can remember drinking. Has plenty of life left to it out of this format. Excellent Plus

1999 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill Mag - floral with a touch of apples, spice and honey. Ripe fruit with once again a surprising backbone for the vintage. is there such a thing as a bad magnum of Champagne? Excellent Plus

1998 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - I wish I had brought a magnum of this as well to fairly compare it to the '99 and '00. Another SWC with consistency. Just lacked a bit of acidity on the finish that the others had in this flight, Excellent

Flight 4 - The Disappointing Flight

1996 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - this is probably the poster child for pre-moxed Pinot heavy Champagne from the vintage. Some bottles from a single case are fresh and lively and others have decades of advancement to them without the complexity of age. This was the later. Drinkable, but a shell of what it should/can be. Good minus

1995 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - corked. One out of seventeen isn’t the worst ratio, but it is always disappointing.

Flight 5

1990 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - First wine starting to show a number of mature notes. Still light yellow colored, but with honey and toasted mixed nuts. Still plenty of fruit with more red fruit than any of the previous wines. Still structured. A great Champagne. Staggering minus

1988 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - more advanced than this Champagne normally is. Didn’t buy it on release and it shows. Still an enjoyable bottle, but not the classic SWC from a classic vintage. Very good

Flight 6

1971 Pol Roger Blanc de Blancs - this bottle and the next were everything you would want in a mature Champagne. A touch of effervescence, light golden colored with honey, marzipan and hazelnuts. Plenty of fruit and a fair amount of structure especially for its age. Staggering

1975 Pol Roger Blanc des Blancs - similar to the '71 but with more oomph and power. I was expecting this to play second fiddle to the '71, but it was its more powerful and flavorful brother. Staggering Plus

Flight 7

1982 Pol Roger Sir Blanc des Blancs - The trifecta for the Bdb’s. Didn’t have quite the complexity of the other two, but on its own would have been stunning. Excellent Plus

1982 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill - The only fully mature SWC on the night. Light effervescence. Golden color. Rich and full mouthfeel. That said, compared to the first two BdB’s, this was slightly lacking. Staggering minus

Flight 8

1990 Pol Roger Rose - the color of a beautiful red sunset. I don’t own/drink a lot of Pol Roger Rose since there isn’t copious amounts of it made, but I need to start looking harder. Like many of the previous wines, very vinous in style. Delicious red berry fruit, especially strawberry. Mouth watering finish. Staggering.

Will post comments and pics of the food when I get some time later tonight.

Wonder what happened with the 96? Any clue why the oxidation issues ray?

I had this problem with one of the bottles i’ve Opened in the past 2 years. The one I opened last Saturday was nice, but certainly not anywhere near the level of the first bottle I opened in 2011. With my experience with the ‘96s I have opened, I’m no longer willing to wait to open my 2002. That will get opened in the next year or two at latest…

as you know, 96 SWC can be fabulous. Depressing to read about this bottle.

Wow, sounds fantastic. I had the 1990 Winston Churchhill about 6-8 months ago. One of the best champagnes I’ve ever had. I’m really interested how much you liked the BdBs. I’ve honestly never tried the Pol Roger BdBs since I think of them as a pinot house.

Drank a mag of 96 10 days ago with another 10 or so others.It was stunning.one of my favorite bottles of the day with the likes of 90DP rose in mag,81 Krug collection mag,88 DP mag,96 Goisses mag,96 Salon,96 DP oeno,96 Krug cdm,88 Krug,96 Tait and 90 Cristal

'96 SWC is like a box of chocolates.

Nice drinking! I guess you’re off the wagon.

Wow. Never even seen the rosé.

Staggering plus lineup. Thanks for the share.

The best Pol Roger I’ve ever had was ‘64 BdB, or what used to be called Blanc des Chardonnay. 2002 opened a few weeks ago was bright and fabulous. Just starting to show.

It’s too bad you had an off bottle of 1988. It’s at least a Staggering wine on your scale from a good bottle and was always better than 1996 in my view. I’m sad I don’t have any more from release (or otherwise).

Great lineup, a very enjoyable read. Sorry your 1996 and 1988 weren’t up to their potential. The 88 and 90 have been a favorite duo for comparison for years.

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