Pol Roger

Editorial profile

Champagne Pol Roger is an Épernay house founded in 1849, when the 18-year-old Pol Roger made his first wine sale. The family moved to Épernay in 1851, and the house has remained closely associated with the town ever since.

The current Union des Maisons de Champagne record gives a 92-hectare vineyard estate and identifies Damien Cambres as cellar master and production lead. He took over the cellar in 2018 after the retirement of Dominique Petit.

Pol Roger's range is deliberately compact. Three non-vintage wines establish the house style at different dosage levels; three vintage families show Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and rosé in declared years; Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill forms the prestige line; and Édition Vinothèque provides later-disgorged or longer-aged versions of the principal vintage wines.

Why this producer matters

Pol Roger is a useful counterpoint to both small growers and heavily wood-influenced houses. The house abandoned barrel vinification in 1930 and today works with temperature-controlled stainless steel, keeping grape varieties and crus separate before blending.

It is also unusual for the consistency of its post-bottling method. Wines mature in very deep cellars around 33 metres below street level, and bottles are still riddled by hand before disgorgement. Full malolactic fermentation is currently used across the house range.

The combination of estate vineyard scale, broad sourcing, steel vinification and unusually cool deep-cellar maturation gives Pol Roger a very distinct technical identity without needing an enormous portfolio.

Vineyard and sourcing

The house currently owns 92 hectares of vineyard. That estate base is substantial, but Pol Roger also works through broader grape supply relationships, so the vineyard figure should not be interpreted as meaning every bottle is made exclusively from house-owned fruit.

The current range draws repeatedly on the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, Épernay sector and Côte des Blancs. Vintage wines use much narrower selections than the non-vintage blends, while Sir Winston Churchill is restricted to Grand Cru Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards.

Cellar approach

Pol Roger uses a consistent current vinification framework. Grapes are pressed promptly, the must receives two settling stages, and alcoholic fermentation takes place at low temperature in stainless-steel tanks, with varieties and crus kept separate until final blending.

The house carries out malolactic fermentation on all wines. Secondary fermentation and ageing take place in the deep Épernay cellars, around 33 metres below ground. Bottles are hand-riddled before disgorgement and then rested again before release.

This method applies across very different cuvées, allowing blend, dosage, grape and vintage to change without changing the basic technical language of the house.

Current and meaningful cuvées

Non-vintage

1. Réserve Brut — the principal house wine. The current blend is one-third Pinot Noir, one-third Meunier and one-third Chardonnay from 30 crus, with 25% reserve wines and around four years in the cellars.
2. Pure Brut Nature — introduced in 2007. It uses the same equal-proportion three-grape concept but receives no dosage and at least four years of ageing, making it the direct dosage comparison with Réserve.
3. Rich Demi-Sec — launched in 2001. It also uses equal parts Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay from 30 crus with 25% reserve wines, but the higher dosage moves the same broad house architecture into a sweeter style.

Vintage

1. Brut Vintage 2018 — currently 60% Pinot Noir / 40% Chardonnay from 20 Grand and Premier Cru vineyards in the Montagne de Reims and Côte des Blancs. The wine undergoes full malolactic fermentation and deep-cellar ageing.
2. Blanc de Blancs Vintage 2016 — 100% Chardonnay from the Grand Cru villages of Oiry, Chouilly, Cramant, Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. The vintage is an essential part of the wine's identity.
3. Rosé Vintage 2018 — the current rosé vintage in the house's active media and release material. Its exact blend and red-wine component should remain tied to the 2018 technical record.

Prestige

1. Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2018 — the current prestige vintage. It is produced only in selected years from Grand Cru Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with Pinot Noir dominant. The exact proportions are intentionally confidential and should not be guessed or reconstructed from older vintages.

Vinothèque

1. Brut Vintage Édition Vinothèque.
2. Rosé Vintage Édition Vinothèque.
3. Blanc de Blancs Édition Vinothèque.
4. Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill Édition Vinothèque.

These are distinct later-release wines. Original vintage, extended cellar time and disgorgement identity are essential and should never be collapsed into the standard vintage entry.

Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill

Pol Roger created Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill as a tribute to the British statesman, whose long association with the house is part of its history. The wine is designed around Pinot Noir dominance, Chardonnay and extended maturity, and is released later than the house's other vintage Champagnes.

The current 2018 is made only from Grand Cru Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Pol Roger deliberately keeps the exact blend secret, so the correct editorial approach is to explain the construction without inventing percentages.

Champagne.co analysis

Pol Roger's portfolio is unusually coherent because the non-vintage wines allow dosage to change while the broad blend stays stable, while the vintage wines allow grape and harvest to change within the same cellar method.

Réserve, Pure and Rich are therefore best understood together. They are not simply three price tiers: they show how the same equal-three-grape framework behaves as dosage moves from zero to Brut to Demi-Sec.

The vintage range then changes the question. Brut Vintage emphasises Pinot Noir and Chardonnay; Blanc de Blancs removes the black grapes; Rosé introduces a red-wine element; Sir Winston Churchill concentrates the selection further and deliberately delays release. Vinothèque adds a final time dimension by extending maturation beyond the standard vintage programme.

Buying guidance

Réserve Brut is the correct starting point because it establishes the classic Pol Roger three-grape, multi-cru blend. Compare it with Pure Brut Nature if the aim is to isolate the effect of removing dosage, or with Rich Demi-Sec to explore the opposite end of the dosage spectrum.

For vintage Champagne, Brut Vintage 2018 is the broadest current choice. Blanc de Blancs 2016 is the Côte des Blancs Chardonnay route, while Rosé Vintage 2018 adds the rosé dimension.

Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2018 is the prestige wine and should be chosen for its more concentrated Grand Cru Pinot Noir/Chardonnay construction and later release, not because of invented blend percentages. Vinothèque bottles are best treated as separate mature releases; always retain the exact vintage and disgorgement history.