Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2009

Pol Roger's 2009 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill has turned out very well, offering up a demonstrative bouquet of golden apples, clear honey, hazelnuts and fresh pastry that's still quite primary. Full-bodied, fleshy and textural, it's deep and concentrated, with an ample core of fruit, ripe but racy acids, a pinpoint mousse and a long, penetrating finish. This is an expressive, deceptively immediate rendition of this bottling, yet despite its charm out of the gates, readers willing to wait at least five years will be rewarded with significant additional complexity.

Particularly strong apples on the nose – even Golden Delicious, a variety I haven’t tasted in a while. Creamy texture and a slightly sweeter, certainly riper, impression than more typical vintages – certainly much fuller and more welcoming than the 2008. Like a liqueur version of Epernay character! But this wine is no simpleton; it really builds on the palate to a dramatically long finish. Powerful! Very friendly rather than stern and Churchillian. As Hubert de Billy says, the 2008 Churchill is for collectors, the 2009 is for drinkers. 2020 – 2028