Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 2008 (750ML)

97 WA / 96 WS / 95+ VM / 17+ JR

Released in October of last year, Pol Roger's 2008 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is showing brilliantly, unfurling in the glass with a complex bouquet of waxy citrus rind, dried white flowers, freshly baked bread, iodine and honeyed yellow apple. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, powerful and vinous, with a deep and multidimensional core, broad structural shoulders and considerable concentration, girdled by tangy acids and displaying a youthfully frothy but incipiently fine mousse. The finish is long and intense. This is a terrific rendition of this reliably superb cuvée and well worth seeking out. William Kelley - Wine Advocate

This lovely, elegant version is more about restraint and finesse than power, caressing the palate with a silky mousse and a finely woven range of ripe Asian pear, biscuit and star fruit flavors, accented by elderflower, ground ginger and almond skin notes. Lightly mouthwatering, expanding on the chalk-tinged finish. Drink now through 2033. 700 cases imported. - Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator

The 2008 Brut Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is one of the most reticent and tightly wound wines of the vintage. To be sure, all the 2008s offer tremendous brightness and punch, but most are also a bit more approachable in the early going. The 2008 Churchill is totally closed in on itself at present. Vibrant floral, citrus and saline notes add an attractive upper register to a core of persistent Pinot-inflected fruit as the wine gradually opens up. The 2008 is a total knock-out, but I wouldn't dream of touching a bottle anytime soon. Antoonio Galloni - Vinous Media

Pale straw gold. Firm, dry, dense, clean bouquet - with considerable dry vibrancy. Super clean and brisk with great persistence. Bruised cooking apple skin aromas. Really opens up on the finish. I had some disappointing tastes of this at the launch in which the flavour seemed to have been scalped (cork problem?) but this is a potentially exciting, if extremely youthful, wine. A little lighter on the mid palate than one might expect of this combination of stellar vintage and heavyweight prestige cuvée. Bone dry finish. Not obviously better - though more youthful - than the regular Pol Roger 2008. - Jancis Robinson