Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 2009, 75 cl

Champagne Pol Roger has been producing exceptional champagne for over 165 years. To this day the house remains small, family-owned, fiercely independent and unrivalled in its reputation for quality. Indeed, it is this quality which brought about Sir Winston Churchill’s lifelong attachment to Pol Roger, who famously insisted "In defeat I need it, in victory I deserve it". Maison Pol Roger owns 92 hectares of vineyards on prime sites in the Vallee de la Marne, the Monta-gne de Reims and on the Cote des Blancs and is 55% self-sufficient in its grape requirements. The cel-lars run for 7km and are on three levels, the deepest known as the ‘cave de prise de mousse' at 34m below street level. As the name suggests this is where the wine undergoes its secondary fermentation in bottle. The fact that this deep cellar is at 9°C or less, rather than a normal cellar temperature of 11-12°C, prolongs this fermentation and contributes to the quality and particular style of the wines and their famously fine bubbles.