2009 Champagne Pol Roger, Sir Winston Churchill, Brut

Immediate complexity on the nose – salted bread, green apple, a hint of butter. Sweet spice too, and a mushroom earthiness that shows the age. Rich and full on the palate, with superb concentration and persistence, leaving lots of umami/soy complexity on the finish. Is it Burgundian? Certainly vinous, and there is both marine minerality and savoury fruit, but in a different guise to Burgundy. Wonderfully expressive to drink now, but has a good decade of ageability if not more.

Drink 2020 - 2030

Bright and lustrous with playful bubbles and a soft mousse, the wine is immediately beguiling, seductive and more approachable and charming than its immediate forebear 2008). The nose waltzes through the Viennese patisserie and then into the orchard, where red apples rejoin citric rigour and draw the taster in. The ripeness of the vintage translates into a rich, creamy texture, with energy and warmth all underwritten by a dominant but not overly domineering Pinot Noir, its savoury notes destined to take control after this first effervescent flush of youth. The finish is pure and long. A forward and confident SWC, and one to enjoy in relative youth.

Drink 2020 - 2035

The Pinot Noir dominated Winston Churchill is rather steroidal in 2009; aromas of apricot, apple skin, and cocoa are found on the nose. The palate feels mature; honeyed fig and yellow plum aromas are dusted with a toasty chocolate spice. Full-bodied and relatively complex, I'd drink this powerful brute) over the next few years. 

Drink 2023 - 2026

The 2009 Brut Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is a heady, explosive Champagne. Ample and deep, the Churchill is so expressive today. Apricot, tangerine oil, mint, baked apple tart and spice all flesh out. I would give the 2009 at least a year or two in bottle, as it is a bit tight at this stage. Even so, time in the glass brings out a feeling of raw power that is impossible to miss.

Drink 2022 - 2039

A few years after its disgorgement now, the 2009 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill has digested its dosage and is beginning to offer up real complexity. Mingling aromas of freshly baked bread, honeycomb, crisp peach, pear and subtle hints of dried fruits, it's medium to full-bodied, sapid and vinous, with bright acids, a pearly mousse and a long, saline finish. Exhibiting more structure than was apparent on release, this has always been a very approachable Churchill, yet it is really benefiting from age.

One of the casualties of COVID-19 was a planned vertical tasting of Pol Roger's Cuvée Winston Churchill, which would have provided some additional context for the latest iteration of this textural, gastronomic, Pinot Noir-dominant bottling. Since that project is deferred to later this year, I've opted to publish my review of the newly released 2009 in the meantime. While the 2009 is structurally more open than the concentrated, tightly wound 2008, it's also still quite youthfully primary, and I would encourage readers to resist its deceptive accessibility right now and wait at least a few years for more complexity and aromatic range to emerge. That said, I can't claim that it was a hardship, even at this early stage, to work through several bottles of the 2009 for this report.

Drink 2022 - 2040