1996 Pol Roger Brut Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill
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Tasting notes
Lychees and walnut of the nose. Little development on the palate: fresh, clean, zesty and a little tight – needs time. Long and serious.
Critic scores
The Wine Advocate
Richard Juhlin
More reviews and scores
The most tightly wound, compact wine in this vertical tasting was also, paradoxically, the oldest, but that won't surprise readers who know the 1996 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. Opening in the glass with notes of iodine, confit orchard fruit, tangerine, smoke and buttered toast, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and tensile, with a seamless, beautifully balanced profile and a classy, somewhat more reserved, intellectual profile than the younger vintages that followed it. This serious but harmonious 1996 will still improve with additional cellaring.
Caramelised nose, attractive ripe fruit with toffee apple, chamomile, white chocolate. Mature and developed. Charming but perhaps a little frail for its age. (RH)
The tenth vintage of Pol's prestige cuvée (1975 was the first). Very sturdy, powerful and dry. Savoury again and with the green streak of this high-acid vintage, which Pol assessed as having 'the hallmarks of a Churchill vintage. Early comparisons were drawn with 1955.' More youthful than the 1999. (JR)
About the producer
Pol Roger is one of Champagne’s most respected Grandes Marques. While it is best known undoubtedly for its prestige cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, it also produces one of the finest non-vintage bottlings on the market.