New Release. Price £185.00. Tasting Notes The Brut Vintage 2013 is tightly knit on the nose with notes of lemon peel, grapefruit and white flowers. Taut palate, with a bracing backbone of acidity, which slowly opens to abroad, rich mouthfeel. Incredibly well balanced and will certainly be ranked among some of the great vintages of the 2010s. Drink 2025-2040. The Cuvee: The 2013 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 2013 has been aged for 7 years in our cellars before being disgorged and released onto the market. Vintage According to Pol Roger: Winter was cold with little sunshine; it was marked by frequent frosts and several incidences of snowfall. The onset of spring-like weather was delayed, and the month of May saw a return of unseasonably low temperatures and high rainfall. June saw a return of normal temperatures. July and August were hot, sunny and dry. A spell of rain at the beginning of September allowed the grapes to swell. Thankfully drier weather encouraged full maturation of the vines, albeit a fortnight late compared to the average of the last ten years. Harvesting started on 24thSeptember and lasted until 9th October. The 2013 crop showed a potential degree of alcohol of 9.8% vol and a total acidity o f8.4gH2SO4/l. Vinification and Maturation: The must undergoes two débourbages (settlings), one immediately after pressing and the second, a débourbage ‘à froid’, in stainless steel tanks at 6°C over a 24 hour period. Each variety and each village is kept separate until final blending. The wine undergoes a full malolactic fermentation. Secondary fermentation takes place in 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. Technical Information: Dosage: 8g/l Available: 75cl Bottle, 1.5L, 300cl Jeroboam 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.