Limited Stocks. Price £245.00. Tasting Notes: The wine displays a very attractive pale straw colour. The nose is mineral and elegant with complex aromas of white flowers, quince and subtle brioche overtones. On the palate the wine is intense yet retains a sense of delicacy with balanced notes of stone fruit, acacia honey and citrus underpinned by a fine thread of acidity. Excellent freshness and persistence, with ample concentration and richness to develop over the next 3-7 years. The Cuvée: The 2004 Brut Vintage from Champagne Pol Roger is made from the traditional house vintage blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay from 20 Grands and Premiers crus vineyards in the “Montagne de Reims” and the “Côte des Blancs”. Produced only in limited quantities the Brut Vintage 2004 has been aged for 8 years in cellars before being disgorged and released onto the market. Vinification and Maturation: The must undergoes two débourbages (settlings), one at the press house immediately after pressing and the second, a débourbage à froid, in stainless steel tanks at 6°C over a 24 hour period. A slow cool fermentation with the temperature kept under 18°C takes place in stainless steel, with each variety and each village kept separate until final blending. The wine undergoes a full malolactic fermentation. Secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle at 9°C in the deepest Pol Roger cellars (33 metres below street level) where the wine is kept until it undergoes remuage (riddling) by hand, a rarity in Champagne nowadays. The very fine and persistent mousse for which Pol Roger is renowned owes much to these deep, cool and damp cellars. The 2004 Vintage: Whilst the first days of 2004 began under the cover of snow, an unusual mildness set in from 5th January. Apart from a few short sharp periods of cold in February and March, this mild and dry weather continued until the spring. Full flowering started on 14th June for the Chardonnay and on 18th June for the Pinot Noir. A wet and cool August slowed the maturation of the grapes but the warmth and sunshine during the first three weeks of September encouraged an exceptional development of the bunches and the grapes were very healthy at the time of the harvest. The earliest parcels were picked on the 18th September with the latest on the 2nd October in excellent sunny conditions. A record crop with healthy ripe grapes picked at a potential average degree of 9.6% and total acidity: 7.1 H2SO4g/l. Food Pairings: A pure delight of a Champagne to be savoured by itself or as an aperitif with foie gras on toasted brioche fingers. It is also the undisputed partner of rich dishes such as chicken supreme with chanterelle mushrooms or sweetbreads cooked with morels. Grape Variety: 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay Dosage – 9 g/l Background Information: Pol Roger, a Champenois from Aÿ, founded his champagne house in Epemay in 1849. Over the next 50 years, until his death in 1899, he built his business into one of the most respected in Champagne and, in particular, forged strong trade links with Britain. The founder was succeeded by his sons, Maurice and Georges, who changed their names to Pol-Roger by deed poll and, thereafter, by a further three generations of his direct descendants. To this day the company remains small, family-owned, fiercely independent and unrivalled in its reputation for quality Pol Roger own 87 hectares of prime vineyard sites spread over the Montagne de Reims, the Vallée de Ia Marme, the Vallée d’Epemay and the Côte des Blancs. This supply is supplemented by grapes purchased on long-term contracts with growers based on the best sites in the region. Total production at Pol Roger is in the region of 1.5 million bottles per annum, making them one of the smaller of the Grandes Marques. The cellars extend some 7 kilometres beneath the streets of Epernay and are carved out of the local chalk over three levels, the deepest known as the ‘cave de prise de mousse’ at 33m below street level. As the name suggests this is where the wine undergoes its secondary fermentation in bottle. This deep cellar is at 9° or less, rather than a normal cellar temperature of 11-12°, thus prolonging this fermentation. They are amongst the coolest and deepest cellars in the region, a factor which contributes to the famously fine bubbles in Pol Roger’s champagnes.