Pol Roger 2019

The 2019 Brut Vintage is soft, open-knit and very approachable. A Champagne of inner strength, the 2019 comes across as a bit closed today, which is surprising given the style of the vintage. Soft curves and silky contours add to the wine's considerable appeal. Floral and orchard fruit overtones linger. I have a feeling there is more here. This is rather quiet today. Drink: 2026 - 2036

Pale gold with a green shimmer and a persistent bead; aromatics unfurling in an orderly fashion, with orchard fruit, then citric peel and finally something a little more indulgent, toasted almond, maybe, or hazelnut. Refined above all. The palate changes the register appreciably and immediately seduces with red fruit and flowers, rosehip ceding to roses and bilberry to peony, the darker colours and sturdy backbone prompted by the atypically high percentage of Pinot Noir in the blend. Thereafter, the wine is magisterial in its weave of firm acidity, extract and ripe fruit. 2019 is now, it seems, pulling ahead of both of its immediate neighbours in a famous trilogy, such is the inherent power on show; sloes, plum dark chocolate and a whisper of umami. Power that is harnessed by an imperious structure and tapered by a purposefully meandering finish. Most impressive.

Both the Rosé and the Brut excel in 2019 at Pol Roger, where the vintage's enticing mixture of plush ripeness, refreshing brightness and age worthy build combine to offer up some of the finest vintage releases of recent times at this house. Pol's appealing creamy generosity is already in play behind outgoing flavours of caramelised apricot tart and fragrant Pinot Noir red berries, but there's plenty of energising Chardonnay here of fine quality, almost explosively aromatic with pomelo and mandarin zestiness. Already far from tight and offering plenty of pleasure, time in the cellar will ramp up the complexity.