The Rewards Of Time And Patience - Pol Roger Brut Rosé Vintage 2000

"In this world where most champagne businesses are owned by large companies we have this extra dimension of being a family owned company. It brings a lot of pleasure, consistency and long-term view to the running of our business. We are not in a hurry...."

This statement by Pol Roger's Hubert de Billy, in an article by Smith and Taylor, does well to capture the values of 'excellence and independence' embraced by the house and in doing so, the sentiment applied to their vintages. 

Since their first vintage in 1874, Pol Roger has lovingly and patiently been the custodians of time, waiting eight years and applying highly meticulous production processes to allow its vintage champagnes to not only be good upon release, but to have excellent ageing potential.  I discuss what makes Pol Roger's production processes special in more detail in my post from 18 June.

But time and patience has also set the pace for Pol Roger to become truly independent when it comes to the sourcing of their grapes.  Up until 1955, the champagne house didn't own a scrap of land, forcing them to rely on the free market and making for uncertain quality and volume. Over 57 years, Pol Roger has taken its time to selectively acquire its own vineyards and establish strategic contracts with some of Champagne's best growers. It now has control over 90% of their grape production. This places them in a strong and comparatively unique position, reducing their need to depend on the free market and significantly bolstering the quality of their cuvées.

So it would seem, the rewards of time and patience has definitely paid off. Their vintages, for which they are best known, are often used as a benchmark standard for other champagnes of the same vintage. This is because their style not only reflects the house, but also captures the character of the terroir and other qualities inherent in that year.

It results in champagnes of great style, distinction, consistency and finesse.

For this vintage rosé, grapes were sourced from some of the best parcels of land - 20 Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards (Le Mesnil, Oger, Vertus, Grauves, Oiry, Chouilly, Cumières, Champillon, Ay, Hautvillers, Mareuil, Chigny, Rilly, Bouzy, and Vinay). However they were not produced without some challenges.

The year 2000 was testing, to say the least, characterised by a mild winter and rainy weather with little sunshine as well as hail and thunderstorms that devastated some vineyards. But just prior to harvest, the weather significantly improved, producing ripe and healthy grapes with acceptable levels of sugar and acidity. It resulted in the 2000 vintage being pretty good on the scale of acceptable vintages. Such conditions generally have manifested in rich, toasty, mouth-filling and well structured wines.

With all of that said, here are my tasting notes for Pol Roger's Brut Rosé Vintage 2000.

A little about style - Pol Roger's style is medium to full-bodied, elegant with good finesse and fairly dry.

Beautiful rich hues of toasted salmon

Blend - 60% pinot noir, 40% chardonnay with 15% red wine added from the same vintage from the village of Chouilly.  

Nose – The nose is led by a delicate bouquet of berries intertwined with very subtle smoke.

Palate –  There’s a lot going on in this champagne; but blink and you’ll miss it. You need to be really attentive to pick up all of its nuances as they weave their way in and out of the tasting journey.

It is quite a big champagne really; so full-flavoured, so tasty. But it terms of body, it’s medium plus.

Red cherries that are on the cusp of ripeness hit the front of the palate before opening up mid-palate into some good berry-charged acidity and firm minerality (it's almost as if I were sucking on the cherry skins). A berry jam taste then follows but it manifests more in tartness than sweetness.

A lifting red grapefruit style acidity then emerges on the back of the tongue, leaving the rest of the palate with a dry taste.

Subtle smokey, yeasty flavours drift up once the acidity subsides. Expect a long, tasty finish - delicious!

This is a serious rosé; best taken against a backdrop of a dancing candle, dinner for two and a stormy night rather than as a thirst quencher watching afternoon sports on a Sunday afternoon.

Verdict - 95/100.

Further reading - The following article from the Wine Doctor provides a nice snap-shot of the family's history in Champagne. There is an excellent article here on Pol Roger's vintage champagnes by Smith and Taylor. I have also included an article on the 2000 vintage from Lushwine.

Where to buy - I purchased this for around $120 from Edinburgh Cellars in Adelaide. Online, try Wine Bay.