Disgorged November 2016. To be launched end of September 2017. Mainly Pinot Noir. Deep with impressively lively and tiny bead. Very intense with a fresh mint note. Round and magnificent. Excellent freshness. Impossible to spit. Beautiful balance. Satin-textured. Not as cigar-fumed as some vintages! A little mushroomy.

An intense golden-yellow color dresses the Pol Roger prestige cuvée 2004 Sir Winston Churchill, which opens with a clear, deep, dense, ripe, fresh, pure and elegant bouquet of matured apples, apricots and lemon flavors along with exciting spicy flavors. Although this Brut is already more than 11-years-old, it is dew-fresh and still developing--slowly. This Champagne is highly complex and well structured on the palate, with grapefruit flavors; it is a full-bodied and intense, yet very firm, persistent, fresh and very elegant assemblage of unnamed Grand Cru Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. It reveals a very long and complex, powerful but stimulating finish, and obviously, an eternal youth. The finish is powerful and stringent, and reveals a great, great aging potential. The wine is somewhat restrained and too compact at the moment though, and should benefit from a longer bottle aging.

Magnum. From Pol Roger UK. Tasted blind. Quite spicy on the nose and just a little bready. Quite a bit of grip on the palate, firm, almost chewy but rounded with creamy texture. Crisp acidity and fabulous intensity. Powerful and more red fruited than the previous wine (which turned out to be the 1999 from bottle). My guess: 1999 bottle. (JH)