2018 Pol Roger, Rose Brut Vintage

Made from 60% Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay, with 15% red wine from Les Riceys, the 2018 Champagne Vintage Brut Rosé pours a bright but deeper shade of pink with an orange hue and is forward with aromas of ripe raspberry, rose petal, orange peel, and a hint of spice. Medium to full-bodied, it has broad shoulders and a bit of tannic grip, with a fine mousse that fades to the background, allowing the wine's more serious side to show off its style. Chalky and powerful on the palate, with wonderful clarity and a long finish, it’s going to move into its more savory side with another couple of years in the cellar. It will pair well alongside roast duck and through the end of a meal. Drink 2025-2045. Pol Roger is a sixth-generation family-owned business founded in 1849 that is solely focused on Champagne based in Epernay. Damien Cambres replaced former chef de cave Dominique Petit in 2018. Since 2011, they have fully moved to stainless steel fermentation and aging. They house 9.5 kilometers of cellars that are notably deep at 33 meters underground and employ four full-time riddlers to turn the bottles and carefully collect sediment from them. (Only 11 exist in the region today.) This year they completed a new facility for packaging and shipping that rests on the footprint of the historical site of the original cellars, which disastrously collapsed in 1900, destroying 1.5 million bottles. In August of 2022, Christian de Billy passed away at the age of 93. He was the great grandson of Pol Roger and was instrumental in the creation and launch of several cuvées, including the Rosé in 1961, the Blanc de Blancs vintage cuvée in 1965, and the cuvée Sir Winston Churchill in 1984 with the 1975 vintage. They own 92 hectares today and produce approximately 1.7 million bottles annually. Pol Roger is a Pinot Noir-based house that focuses on the art of blending. The wines tend to strike a balance of refinement in the mousse without shying away from power and structure across the range.

The 2018 Brut Rosé opens to a superb bouquet revealing scents of plums, red berries, pastry, almond, mandarin orange and lemon oil complemented by classy autolytic notes. On the palate, this remarkable rosé has a tauter and more fine-boned texture than usual, which is enhanced by bright acids and a chalky, saline finish. It requires patience to realize all its potential.

With 60% of Pinot Noir in the blend, of which 20% is red wine addition, this is vibrant in both colour and demeanour. Delicate notes of raspberry leaf flow from the nose to the perfumed palate, which becomes powerful and driving as it dances across the tongue, the mousse soft and frothy. It's approachable and charming now, buoyed by soft red Pinot Noir fruit and apple skin bitters on the finish.

Generous and demonstrative, shaped by the warm, early-ripening growing season, Pol Roger's 2018 Brut Rosé, disgorged in July 2024 with a dosage of eight grams per liter, bursts from the glass with a pretty bouquet of raspberry, cranberry and rose water, mingling with brioche and honeysuckle. On the palate, it reveals a full-bodied, broad-shouldered and textural profile, structured and vibrant, boasting a dense core of luscious fruit. A pillowy mousse and ripe yet lively acidity lend energy, guiding it toward a long, perfumed finish. Comprising 65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay, this is a gastronomic rosé Champagne, built to age gracefully and pair beautifully with dishes such as red meat or tuna.

The 2018 Brut Rosé is soft, fruity and very easy to like. The inclusion of 15% still red wine gives the Brut Rosé gorgeous depth that also manifests in a great deal of versatility for the dinner table. Crushed red berry fruit, spice, rose petal, white pepper and orange peel open nicely in the glass.

50% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Meunier sourced from 20 premiers and grands crus in the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs. Includes 15% Pinot Noir, from vineyards in Bouzy, Ambonnay and Cumières, vinified as red wine is added to the blend prior to the second fermentation. Harvest began on 20 August and was spread over nearly four weeks. The grapes underwent a slow, cool (below 18 °C) fermentation, and each variety and each village was kept separate until final blending. The wine underwent full malolactic conversion. Second fermentation and lees-ageing in bottle for 42 months before remuage by hand. The wine then spent 30 months in bottle post disgorgement. Winemaker Damien Cambres. TA 3.82 g/l, pH 3.05, RS 7.95 g/l. Bottle weight 900 g. Vegan, natural cork. Available in Waitrose Cellar only. Almost a Syrah-like deep rosé (verging on purple) hue rather than salmon pink/orange. Plenty of drive and crispness on the palate. Lip-smacking, dark-red fruit/cherry to the fore. Distinctive, not subtle, but high-quality. (AWH)