These are tough times for Champagne. According to the main industry body Syndicat général des vignerons de la Champagne (SGV), French domestic sales in 2024 were down 7.2% to 118m bottles whilst exports slumped almost 11% to 153m, leaving total sales at their lowest since 2002. President Trump’s plans for 200% tariffs will, of course, intensify matters. However, James Simpson MW, MD of the Pol Roger Portfolio – and current chair of the Champagne Agents Association (CAA), a group of UK champagne importers – remains optimistic.
"Times are pretty tough out there and people are drinking less. For Champagne in particular you need a good story – and ours is better than most,” he says, sitting in the Blavatnik Hall of the Tate Modern where Pol Roger is holding its first portfolio tasting since 2019.
"For Champagne you need a good story – and ours is better than most," – James Simpson MW
This is, coincidentally, where CAA will also hold its tasting on April, the largest Champagne event since the CIVC (Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne) stopped doing them just before the pandemic.
The main event today is the soft launch of the Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2018, which becomes available this summer, and which is being shown alongside the other Pol Roger champagnes, including the Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2015.
I have to say the 2018 is quite delicious, with lots of toasty brioche and spritzy acidity on the palate: like all previous vintages the precise blend is a secret although, as always, it’s heavy on the Pinot Noir, at least 85% of the total. The 2015 seems more developed, unsurprisingly perhaps, for this was a stellar vintage and it’s had more time to evolve, and shows wonderful complexity on the palate and finish.
Of the other six Pol Roger, the Rosé Vintage 2018 was particularly expressive, a balanced blend of 60% Pinot and 40% Chardonnay, with lots of zesty fruit on the palate.
Martin Heidsieck with the Cuvée Winston Churchill 2018
According to Simpson, Churchill was an avid drinker of Pol Roger for much of his long life, certainly from 1906 to his death in 1965, and he famously imbibed large quantities throughout the day, including at breakfast. His favourite post war vintage was the 1947 which he drank whenever he could get hold of it, although Simpson reminds me that Champagne in those days was very different to today: heavier on the red grapes, with a dash of cognac in the mix.
Pol Roger renamed its prestige cuvée after the great statesman in 1984, launching the new expression, originally in magnum only, at Blenheim Palace, and has released it in only the best vintages ever since.
“Obviously we don’t add cognac but we try to reproduce a drink we feel he would have liked; so big on the Pinot. It’s great to have the Royal Warrant – and know our wines are still popular within the Royal Family – but this history for us is just as evocative,” he says, pointing out that just over 60 years ago Churchill’s funeral would have been taking place at St Paul’s Cathedral, just across the river, in view of where we are sitting.
“Just imagine the parades, the huge solemnity that marked the passing of such a great man,” he says, as we toast his memory.
View from the Pol Roger Portfolio tasting
Simpson says the release of the 2018 marks the first time Pol Roger has been able to release five vintages in one decade since the late 1980s, when the Champagne industry has changed out of all recognition.
“Along with Louis Roederer and Bollinger, we’re the last of the big family-owned producers. The Churchill Cuvée may talk of our traditions but we now have one of the smartest wineries in Champagne – absolutely state of the art.”
What of the rest of the portfolio?
Pol Roger Portfolio comprises 23 wineries from France, Spain, Italy, Australia and the US plus two distilleries, Glenfarclas from Scotland and Leiper’s Fork from the US. Unlike some other brand-led portfolios, like MMD (Roederer) it doesn’t have a stake in the producers it represents, suggesting a model closer to that of Gonzalez Byass.
“We want our fellow producers, which are mainly family-owned, to support the Pol Roger brand, not swamp it,” says Simpson. “We’ve built up the portfolio over the years focusing on kind people from nice places who make great wine. We’ve been growing this and since Brexit we’ve picked up five new agencies from other importers.”
Here are some of the stand-out producers and wines from the portfolio.
Mount Mary (Australia)
The latest addition to the group, this legendary Yarra Valley producer – one of the pioneers of the region, setting up back in 1971 – is now run by third generation siblings Sam and Claire Middleton. Mount Mary has been selling its wines through La Place de Bordeaux but, as Claire says, the family really wanted to become better known in the UK and sell through the on-trade.
The estate produces some 30,000 bottles, all quite high end: standouts included the Triolet 2017, an unusual but moreish blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle; the surprisingly light and approachable Quintet 2017, a Cabernet Sauvignon-led Bordeaux blend and my favourite the Pinot Noir 2017 (tasting only, the 2021 is available for sale), really fresh and accessible, with black pepper, spice and red berry fruit on the long palate.
Mulline Vintners (Australia)
Still in Victoria but in Geelong, a region associated with the infamous outlaw Ned Kelly as well as being the first home of commercial vineyards in Australia.
Mulline was founded seven years ago by Ben Mullen and Ben Hine, who are on a mission to show that premium wines can be made from its three sub-regions. The winery produces just under 100,000 bottles per annum and won the James Halliday Best Value Wine award a few years ago – the nine wines on show here were certainly all very well priced and well made.
I found the surprisingly restrained Syrah 2021 – 20% aged in old oak – slightly reductive but appealing nonetheless. The standout is the fresh, friendly Pinot Noir 2021, made from 20% whole bunch fruit, slightly floral and amazing value at £101.62 DPD ex VAT for a case of 6. Not trying to be anything but eminently quaffable. The slightly pricier Portarlington Pinot Noir 2021 is more complex and slightly saline, as befits a single vineyard wine made from a coastal plot.
Voyager Estate (Australia)
Across in Western Australia, this is an iconic Margaret River estate, which was also a pioneer, having been set up in 1978 but revitalised 13 years later by Michel Wright; the estate is now organic and sustainable. Two standouts here, the appealing, lightly oaked but fruit forward MJW Chardonnay 2020 and the MJW Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, really well made with lovely balance and dark berry fruit beneath the soft tannins.
Kinsman Eades (US)
This family run Napa operation has only been making wine for six years, is tiny volume and emphasises “mindful farming and precision winemaking” and is already off to an impressive start judging by their inaugural Anjea Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, made from grapes grown in Yountville. This is a dark, brooding Cabernet, showing lots of dark cassis fruit, spice and silky tannins. Very high end, very worthwhile.
Tor Wines (US)
This operation was founded around the turn of the century by Tor Kenward focusing on Napa’s best vineyard blocks and on small volume releases made with minimal intervention that “capture Napa’s purity, precision and timeless beauty.” The cheapest of these wines was the impressive Chasing Windmills Grenache 2019 which actually turned out to be 59% Syrah: 15% alcohol, medium to full bodied and with a long, complex finish reflecting the smooth tannins.
At the highest end the Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 is really distinctive, dark, silky tannins and restrained but elegant fruit. £1370 DP Ex VAT for six. Pricey but, as Tor says, the fruit comes from Napa Valley’s most sought-after plots where prices last year topped $60,000 per ton.
Dal Forno Romano (Italy)
It may be unfashionable and some may object to the alcohol (17% in this case) but sometimes there’s nothing quite a satisfying as a good Amarone. Dal Forno’s Amarone della Valpolicella 2012 is about as good as it gets. Dal Forno, established in 1983, uses Croatina and Oseleta and minimal Molinara in the Corvina-dominant blend, and the result here is a wine that is nicely old fashioned – full on but with incredible richness and depth. The 2016 and 2009 Amarones are also worth checking out if you can lay your hands on them.
Casanova di Neri (Italy)
Gianlorenzo Neri looks pretty happy as he oversees the table holding his family’s impressive selections of Brunellos and I can’t blame him. One of the original and most famous names of this revered DOCG, these wines are beautifully made and deliver at every level.
The Brunello di Montalcino White Label 2018 and Tenuta Nuova Brunello di Montalcino 2018 are fascinating to contrast and compare: the former made from grapes from the original vineyard planted by founded Giovanni Neri in 1971, north-east facing, resulting in a structured but restrained wine; the latter, a newer south-east facing plot, resulting in what Gianlorenzo calls a “more powerful and maybe more expressive wine.” Bigger too.
The Giovanni Neri Brunello di Montalcino 2018, made from one of the oldest vineyards in Montalcino and with whole bunch fermentation is still evolving very nicely whilst the Tenuta Nuova Brunello di Montalcino 2013 was quite extraordinary, with an explosive full-on mouth-filling palate of dark berry fruit, spice pepper and silky tannins, and a perfect Long Goodbye of a finish. Not available for purchase any longer, which seems a great pity.
Artadi (Spain)
Wines made from the Txakoli grape varieties are pretty scarce in the UK. Sparkling ones made by former Rioja-based producers who have left the DO to make wines their own way are even rarer, which was one of the reasons the Izar-Leku 2019 was such a pleasant surprise. Made from 50% Hondarrabi Beltza and 50% Hondarrabi Zuri, this has a wonderful fresh minerality, with suggestions of stone fruit on the palate made more complex by a long saline finish. Made by the classic method, this is wonderfully different. Artadi’s other wines – all single vineyard Tempranillo – are also worth investigating.
All wines are imported and sold in the UK through Pol Roger Portfolio which is a commercial partner of The Buyer. To discover more about them click here.
