WALKING UP RUE DE CHAMPAGNE TO POL ROGER

Pol Roger is an historic family owned house established in 1849. Visiting in April this year was amazing and reminded me of the impressive quality of these wines. It was an incredible visit, the nod to history clear as well as capturing innovation and change with both hands.

The Champagne House of Pol Roger is located in the centre of Epernay on the aptly named Rue de Champagne, the offices accessible from Rue de Winston Churchill. As you meander up Rue de Champagne, you quickly become lost in thought as the many famous names of the region line this prestigious street. What’s unusual when it comes to Pol Roger is that their winery and cellars are located off Rue de Champagne. With special permissions enabling them to open the doors, receive grapes and craft their wine all in situ on Rue de Champagne. Whilst many sizable producers are moving to buildings outside the historic areas in Champagne for the majority of their business, Pol Roger has taken quite the opposite approach.

Investing and already a good way into an impressive project, has seen them build an exceptionally impressive winery and facilities. This will see this family property well positioned into the future and sees the house continue to vinify and age their wines in the traditional caves. Whilst excavating to build the new facilities, they uncovered bottles from the years 1887 to 1897 that were intact. In 1900 a number of walls of the original building in Epernay had collapsed causing the cellar and two buildings to fall over. At the time, over 1.5 million bottles were lost with efforts to recover them and the cellars unsuccessful. On opening one of these bottles, the characters of the wine at this age were a delightful surprise for the team at Pol Roger.

The cellars at Pol Roger cover 8km and sit 100ft underground. The depth and cool constant temperatures are two of the characters that give Pol Roger its impressive richness and complexity. Pol Roger is one of the few Champagne houses to continue to riddle their bottles by hand. Riddling is the process of slowly turning the bottles, moving the dead yeast cells (lees) to the neck of the bottle ready for disgorgement. There are four full-time riddlers who make it look a lot easier than it is. With a production circa 2 million bottles, each riddler will turn 50,000 bottles a day, with five years of training required before they start. An impressive commitment to quality.

In the Champagne region, whilst Grower Champagne producers own their small holdings, it is unusual for the Grand Marque houses to own a large proportion of their vineyards. Pol Roger has over 50% of vineyards under their ownership. With all grapes sourced from predominately 1er Cru and Grand Cru vineyards that adhere to their very strict guidelines.

As Glengarry celebrates all things French this month, this includes Champagne and the wines of Pol Roger. The brut non-vintage is a blend of the three main varieties in equal proportions, pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay. Christian Pol Roger used to say that the quality of a house stands or falls on that of its non-vintage. One glass of Pol Roger non-vintage ensures the impressive quality of the whole house of Pol Roger. (LIZ WHEADON)  PN www.glengarrywines.co.nz