Pol Roger : Brut Vintage 2016

The 2016 Brut Vintage reveals a complex, gourmand bouquet with aromas of ripe orchard fruits, nectarine, pastry, nuts, sweet spices and ripe white fruits, signs of a warm vintage. Full-bodied, broad and vinous with a fleshy core of fruit, it’s rich and elegant with a penetrating, saline finish. It will drink at its peak in five to 10 years.

A very elegant and silky vintage Champagne with a seamless harmony of candied citrus, sushi ginger and dried cherry, with racy acidity and delicate minerality leading to a long, straight and refined finish. You don’t even think about how much or how little dosage it has. Drink now or hold.

Based on 60% Pinot Noir and the rest Chardonnay, the 2016 Champagne Vintage Brut is released only after 6–7 years on the lees (sur latte). It pours a straw hue and shows a more expressive profile on opening, with notes of tangerine and fresh flowers, its red fruit coming through with fresh red raspberry and peppery spice. It’s medium-bodied and rounded on the palate, with excellent structure, powerful concentration, and a long finish. This has a refined yet powerful feel and will be a wine with significant longevity and slow maturation over the next 15–20 years. True to the house style, it has a sturdy backbone and is emblematic of a fantastic vintage champagne from Pol Roger. The mousse is pinpoint and rounded on the finish. Drink 2024–2040.

The Pol Roger Brut Vintage 2016 is a 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay where each variety and village parcel is vinified separately before the final blend is assembled. It is aged between five and six years on fine lees, hand riddled prior to disgorgement and finished with an eight gram per liter dosage. A rich golden color, the nose is very concentrated with rich, expressive notes of apple and rhubarb pie, lemon cream and honey. The medium-bodied palate has vibrant and supple acid supporting ripe forest fruit, toast, and acacia honey flavors. It finishes rich and long. The bottle tasted was disgorged in February, 2023.

The nose logically shows greater scope, in a style that is not very demonstrative in their youth; the wine’s depth, although still tightly locked, is much improved. The palate is powerful and firm, with a framework quite true to the 2016 vintage, offering more length than weight.