In addition, most of Pol’s father’s clients would have been growers or members of the wine world – there was not much else in Ay at the time! It is therefore not surprising that, as a young man of eighteen wondering what to do with his life, and having decided that life as a notary was not for him, he should choose Champagne. He founded his Champagne House, in 1849, in Ay, with financial help and huge support from his parents and family.

 

Pol Roger died, in 1899, having created a fine and prosperous international Champagne House. Incidentally phylloxera had arrived in Champagne, in 1888, and stayed until 1899. It died with Pol! During the last years of his life there had been important family developments. His daughter, Lucie Marie,married to Emile Français, gave birth to two daughters, Marie-Louise and Madeleine, and then, later, a son, Pol.

 

In 1894, Maurice married Marie Marguerite Mathilde Mérendet and they had a daughter, Antoinette (1895-1984). Albert, suffering badly from asthma, had been increasingly absent. He was therefore paid off, in 1894. He died, much later than Pol, in 1913. Finally Pol’s mother died, in 1895. Many say that this hastened Pol’s own decease.

The two sons, Maurice and George, took over and ran the company for many years with the same skill and devotion as had their father. They were well qualified, having worked for Pol since they were both eighteen.There is a delightful story at this point. In honour of their father, the boys wrote to the President of France, Emile Loubet, and asked if the family might change its name from Roger to Pol-Roger. The President gave his assent, in March 1900.

This is why, from that time onwards, the family name became Pol-Roger (with a hyphen) and the company name remained Pol Roger (without the hyphen).

Almost at once, there was an almighty catastrophe. A whole section of the cellars collapsed during the night, in 1900. 17,657.5 cubic feet of cellars were destroyed. Pol Roger submitted to the tax authorities a loss of 160,578 gallons of destroyed wine. Bonal said that 500 casks and 1.5 million bottles were lost. The brothers flinched, but carried on, bought cellars next door, and had completed the building of more extensive premises, by 1903! Typical Pol-Roger stoicism and courage!

 

Roger was Mayor of Epernay, from 1912-1918, and his bravery and devotion to duty are legendary. In 1915, he fought a duel with the Préfet who, Roger believed, had neglected his official duties, in September 1914, when the Germans occupied Epernay. Regretfully, we do not have time for the many wonderful stories, some comical and some tragic, of these war years.

 

Maurice refused to leave throughout the war, but sent his family away. I just HAVE to mention that he discovered that the Chief of Police had debunked with all the Municipal Funds!!

Armistice was announced on 11th November 1918.Then came prohibition, in 1920, a disastrous blow for Champagne, but the Pol-Roger brothers soldiered on regardless.

 

Then, in the late 1920s, arrived the third generation. Maurice had had two children: - Antoinette (1895-1984), who married Jean de Billy, which is vital to our story. Also Jacques (1904-1964). George had had three children: - Nicole (1905-1951), Guy (1907-1956) and Jean (1912-2005).

Jacques joined the company, in 1927, and Guy followed him, in 1928. Both were given responsibilities for overseas sales. In 1933, Jacques married Odette Wallace, whose great grandfather was famous for assembling the Wallace Collection. Then, in 1938, Guy married Anne Marie Budin, whose father was Mayor of Epernay, from 1935-1944 (Second World War). Finally, Jean, George’s youngest son, joined the company, in 1934, to work on production.

Prohibition ended in 1933 and sales (the legal ones!) shot up again. Pol Roger was a world renowned Marque and much in demand. In 1934, King George V chose it for a major Buckingham Palace reception and Pol Roger also had the Royal Warrant, which was a valuable company asset.
Now arrived the Second World War, which was a real tragedy for Champagne in every way.

 

Jacques, Guy and Jean worked on through it under, the supervision of Maurice and Georges. War was declared on 3rd September 1939. The Germans occupied Epernay (again). Mme Christian de Billy, who was eight in 1940, remembers the food shortages. No less than 12,015 bottles were pilfered by the German troops.

 

However Pol Roger did not really suffer all that much as they supplied 1,185,222 bottles of Champagne to the German Armed Forces, during the four years of occupation, albeit at derisory prices! Again many wonderful stories have to be omitted for lack of space. Epernay was liberated on 28th August 1944.
Soon after the war, arrived the fourth generation. Maurice and George continued to run the company, with their sons, Jacques, Guy and Jean. In 1949, Christian de Billy (1928- ), only son of Antoinette Pol Roger, joined the company. Christian later married Chantal Budin, in 1955, and they had five children, amongst who was Hubert (1963- ) and Evelyne (1957- ).

 

George’s health failed him and he died, in 1950, at age 77. Christian de Billy stepped into the gap. Then Guy died, in 1956, at the tragically young age of 48. Christian became joint Managing Director, with Jean.Maurice finally passed away, in 1959, at the great age of 90. The company moved into its twelfth decade of business.

The company continued its predestined path of fame. Now there were Jacques and Jean Pol-Roger, Christian de Billy and finally Christian Pol-Roger, who joined, in 1963. As always, Pol Roger met changes and advances with adaptability and resilience and continued to prosper over the next thirty years.

Christian de Billy announced his retirement, in 1997, and a year later the first member of the fifth generation joined the company, Hubert, his son. Hubert is married to Delphine and has three children: - Alexis, Maximilian and Victoria. Hubert and Evelyne de Billy were the two of Christian’s five children who joined Pol Roger. Evelyne (1957- ), was the last to join and today is Vineyard Manager.
Also, in 1997, with the departure of Christian, for the very first time in the history of the company, an executive from outside the family was recruited. This was Patrice Noyelle. He joined as Assistant Managing Director, and became the C.E.O a few months later. Jean Pol-Roger had no heirs and of Guy Pol-Roger’s eight children only Christian had joined. There was a gap!

At the end of the year 2000 came a sad loss. The death of Jacque’s widow, Odette, at age 89. She had been a wonderful promoter of Pol Roger Champagne and the very dear friend of Sir Winston Churchill (about whom more below).

Finally, in august 2005, came yet another loss. Jean Pol-Roger, the last of the third generation, died aged 93. He is survived by his widow, known as Aunt Marie Magdeleine, today aged 84.One can see quite clearly that the Champagne of Pol Roger promotes long life and makes old bones!

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL “Winnie” was Pol Roger’s most famous and ardent admirer and the company’s greatest advertisement. He often said“In victory we deserve it, in defeat we need it”. He always had his Pol Roger bottled in Imperial Pints.

 

He preferred these in case he might have found a tad of difficulty in finishing a whole bottle on his own. His beloved wife, Clementine, often chastised him for drinking alone, but he considered the PINT to be too small to be taken as “drinking” and therefore not even worth the bother of crossing off the cellar stock.At his death, in January 1965, Pol Roger went into mourning and put a black border around the labels of their “White Foil”.

 

This was later lightened to Royal Blue, in 1990. His death was a sad loss to Odette Pol-Roger. She had met him with Duff Cooper, the British Ambassador in Paris, in the 1940s, and they had become the firmest of friends.

 

Their friendship was described as “a beautiful December to May relationship, quite harmless and very touching”.Ten years after his death, in 1975, in his honour, Pol Roger launched their famous “Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill Champagne”. At the launch, Lady Soames said, “I saw my father many times the better for it, but never the worse”.

 

Sir Winston liked old Champagne and had a penchant for the 1928, 34 and 47!He drank his first glass of Pol Roger and became a customer, in 1908. He is said to have consumed over 500 cases during his lifetime!

 

WHO’S WHO
As is abundantly clear above, the company of Pol Roger belongs firmly to the Pol-Roger family – 97% to be exact. Those remaining 3% of shares are on the Paris market. Baron Philippe de Rothschild France distribution distributes Pol Roger throughout France.

- Christian de Billy is still Chairman
- Patrice Noyelle is CEO
- Hubert de Billy is Commercial Marketing Director
- Laurent d’Harcourt is Export Manager
- Evelyne de Billy is Vineyard Manager

VINEYARDS
Today the company owns 86 hectares of vineyards, which, Hubert says, accounts for about 50% of their needs.

 

Some 50% is Pinot Meunier, 35-40% is Chardonnay and the rest is Pinot Noir.

He agrees that rather more Pinot Noir would not go amiss and the company continues to buy when the right occasion offers.

Naturally, all their other requirements are bought from a panoply of long standing suppliers, growing the very finest grapes.

 

CHAMPAGNE according to Pol Roger
Once the grapes have been pressed and the must has been cold settled in the Press House, it is brought to the Pol Roger cellars where it is cold-settled a second time, at 7°C. Pol Roger was one of the first houses to do this second débourbage.

The wine is not filtered after this, just racked and allowed to regain a temperature of 12-13°C. Fermentation takes place, with selected Champagne yeasts, at a maximum temperature of 18°C, but usually at 17°C. The policy and philosophy of Pol Roger is to put the wines through 100% malo-lactic fermentation.

In their view, this helps promote their philosophy (described below) of “cépage”, and allows the maximum expression of the grape and its terroir.Hubert says that if they are offered some Pinot Meunier, by growers during the harvest, they generally say “no thank you”, but if offered Pinot Noir or Chardonnay they generally say “yes please”! The wine, having been racked, then rests quietly in its vats until January-February when the tasting of the Vin Clair is done, followed by the assemblage.

These two vital operations are done by the family. Hubert stresses that this is the moment when the styles of the House are decided and put into physical effect, with the unanimous agreement of the whole family. These are CORE operations, which can last up to two months. All the cuvées, although each with its own clearly defined style, should have the family Pol Roger resemblance.

The wine making techniques of each cuvée are the same, but the differences lie in the wines used, their age, their style and a multitude of meticulously observed minute differences. It is an ART.

For the Assemblage, of course, Réserve Wines are used. I have spoken very little about these. Many Champagne Houses regard their “Réserves” as being secrets of the House. They are a vital and integral part of all Cuvées and therefore the quality of all assemblages. Pol Roger holds several thousand hectolitres of “Réserves”, mainly of the previous vintage. 20-30% is used in their assemblages each year.

These wines are stored quietly in the concrete vats. In passing, Hubert mentioned that they also have another type of “réserve”. Nothing to do with the Champagne making process.

This is the famous Pol Roger vinotheque, where old bottles lie undisturbed until somebody decides that there is an occasion special enough to taste one. Here are vintage bottles back to 1892 (a legendary vintage). “But”, Hubert says, almost slyly, “if I were to look long and hard enough I could probably find something even older!!”.

Pol Roger stabilises its wines before bottling, at -4°C, in stainless steel tanks and with bentonite. This is generally done in February-March and the bottling takes place from April-June. The liqueur de tirage used here is made up of pure cane sugar, reserve wine and yeasts. Crown caps are now universally used.

The newly bottled wine goes at once down to the basse cave for the prise de mousse. Pol Roger’s basse caves are deep – 35 metres below ground level and at a constant temperature of 9°C.Ageing, so totally vital for great Champagne, takes place in these basses caves, on lattes. Pol Roger gives its wines the absolute maximum of age.

This is usually 3 _ years for the Non-Vintage (from the time of the vintage) and 5 years for the vintage (they are currently selling the 1998). Eight years for the Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. When considered ready, the bottles are moved into the upper levels for riddling. Hubert states, quite clearly and unequivocally, that he believes that Pol Roger is the only remaining house to riddle every single bottle by hand on the pupitres.

When I asked him “is there really a difference ” he answered “yes. A gyro palette is a cube, a square, and therefore a bottle in the corner cannot undergo, mathematically, exactly the same rotation as a bottle in the middle. Also hand-riddling is a human operation, subject to human error and weakness, BUT ALSO to human correction and compensation”.

 

“Can you taste the difference ” I asked. “Probably not” he replied “but it is there. You have only changed one parameter out of the thousands that make up the wine. Change many and you will see the difference clearly, change them all and you have a different wine!”

After riddling, the wine goes to the ground level cellars for “dégorgement”. At Pol Roger this operation is totally classical, done by freezing the necks of the bottles in the glycol solution. Large format bottles, however, are still disgorged by hand. The 1998 Salmanazars for example (nine litre bottles).

Here Hubert makes a very interesting point. He says that, contrary to what is popularly believed, for Champagne large format bottles do NOT mean slower ageing and longer life. Often the very big bottles have been filled by decanting smaller bottles into them.

 

Not much Champagne, in bottles larger than magnums, is both aged and riddled in them. Naturally there are exceptions.

Hubert made very clear the following sequence:
1. The depth of the cellar influences the temperature.
2. The temperature influences the length and speed of the second fermentation and the subsequent ageing.
3. The length of the second fermentation influences the size of the bubbles. Pol Roger Champagne is famous for the minute size of its pin-prick bubbles.

 

PROJECTS
1. To continue to improve perpetually their already great quality.
2. To finish the modernisation of the vat room. The last phase of the modernisation is expected to be started after the 2007 vintage and to be finished before that of 2008. All vats will be stainless steel and thermo-regulated. However they will keep their cement vats, chiefly for storage. The advantage of these is that they allow the maximum amount of storage in the minimum amount of space, being square. All fermentation will be done in the stainless steel vats. Incidentally, the first cement vat was installed here, in 1929, and the last wooden one in 1975-6.
3. As we have seen under “VINEYARDS”, to continue to increase and improve the vineyards. Hubert says that some 30% at present are Grands Crus and 20% Premiers Crus. However, he pointed out that the classification of the Crus, while having significance in general, does not have a great deal of meaning when looking at individual plots and parcels.

 

PHILOSOPHY
The philosophy of Pol Roger, according to Hubert, is the philosophy of “cépage” or “varietal”.
The ultimate aim and object is to raise the quality and the intensity of flavour and bouquet of the grapes to an ever higher level. Then to express this, truly and vibrantly, in the resultant wine. There is absolutely nothing wrong with oak perse, but it is none the less a foreign flavour and bouquet.

It therefore does not have a place in Pol Roger Champagne. The bouquet and flavour of the grape must shine through the wine. When grape varieties are blended, the result must be finer than the sum of the parts. The wines of Pol Roger must be natural, not heavy, not light, but pure.

 

 

- POL ROGER, Brut Réserve
- POL ROGER, Vintage

- POL ROGER, Chardonnay, Brut
- POL ROGER, Rosé Vintage
- POL ROGER, Vintage, Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill

- POL ROGER, Rich

 

 

 

TASTING NOTES
1998 ROSÉ RÉSERVE, BRUT - 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir
BUBBLES : Fine, tiny vigorous and persistent.
COLOUR : Vivid, fresh pink, rather deeper than salmon. Refreshing and attractive.
NOSE : Fruited, ripe and generous. This is quite a voluptuous nose, giving a deeper meaning to the attractive spirit of Rosé Champagne. Redolent of ripe fruits and flowers but with considerable depth and complexity.
PALATE : Long and meaty. Decidedly a sturdy and full bodied Champagne. Generous in the mouth, long and satisfying. It has tannins, which give it structure. This is a complex wine and quite severe in the best and most aristocratic sense of the word, but none the less rich The Pinot Noir gives it a lot of body and the Chardonnay fine fruit and minerality The wine is deep, with layer upon layer of flavours. A masculine Rosé. Good for ageing.

1996 CUVÉE SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, BRUT
Certainly one of the most famous Champagnes in the world today, created in 1975.
BUBBLES : Minute, pinprick, vigorous and extremely long lasting.
COLOUR : A fine, brilliant, deep yellow gold. Supremely attractive.
NOSE : This is quite marvellous. Fine, complex, deep, satisfying and generous. It pervades, enriches and satisfies. Wonderful yeasty tones and fresh brioche in spite of its maturity. None the less fresh and subtle. One could go on inhaling this wine all day and night and never tire!
PALATE : In the mouth come the fullness and the satisfying richness of maturity. The notes of faint and subtle oxidation are quietly making themselves felt. The wine is supremely mellow. Fulfilling and mouth-filling, it is complex and thought-provoking. Wonderful tones of cigar-box, yeast, brioche, spices and yellow fruits. It is creamy. In spite of its age it has great freshness and vitality and clean bright acidity. Vibrates in the mouth and leaves a sensation of total satisfaction. A joy!