The 2008 Brut Vintage from Champagne Pol Roger is made from the traditional house vintage blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay sourced from 20 Grands and Premier crus vineyards located in the Montagne de Reims and the Cotes de Blancs. It is aged for 8 years before being disgorged and released.
Pol Roger rate 2008 as one of their great vintages and after tasting this Champagne it’s easy to see why. Showing excellent buoyancy, a lacy white mousse eventually dissipates to reveal a base of pale straw colour with trimmings of pale gold. The bead is an exceptionally fine stream of tiny bubbles that are incredibly persistent. The nose alone of this superb Champagne sends you into a heavenly spin. Heady, complex and rich, scents of oily baked bread, yeast lees, subtlety toasted brioche and citrus lead a merry dance through the olfactory senses with faint notions of cashew and dried honey also chiming in. Rich and refined the divine, the creamy textured palate has a light airy feel to it yet is intensely flavoured. A crescendo of yeasty baked bread characters, subtlety toasted brioche, citrus, oily cashew and faint infusions of dried honey engulf the mouth. Outstanding length and breadth finishing dry and crisp. Very long conclusion of baked bread, yeast lees, brioche, toast and oily cashew.
I have always loved Pol for its luminous, polished flavours and mouthfeel. Add the glorious ’08 vintage, its usual blend of 60% pinot noir and 40% chardonnay seems reversed. It’s full of beautifully balanced stone fruit and citrus, achieved with a modest 7g/l of dosage after seven years on lees.