Pol Roger Brut Vintage 2012

Pol Roger Brut Vintage 2012

Making Pol Roger vintage champagne is risky business. Sure, many household names are happy to throw the term out there with gay abandon, but not Pol Roger; credibility is vital in these parts. The 2012 Pol Roger season threw up the perfect conditions for a vintage (not without hurdles, of course, all expertly negotiated) and this limited quantity Pol Roger champagne is completely worthy of its lofty title. Balance is everything when it comes to true Pol Roger vintage, and no stone was left unturned in this Pol Roger production process. Expect the price to be anywhere between €60 and €75 for this Pol Roger.

The Pol Roger Brut vintage champagne is made from the traditional Pol Roger champagne house vintage blend, which consists of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay from 20 Grands. The Pol Roger Brut vintage has been aged for 8 years in the Pol Roger wine cellars, which are hidden beneath the Avenue de Champagne. The Pol Roger Brut vintage with its attractive gold color, which is filled with intensity and a continuous stream of bubbles is produced in limited quantities. The price of Pol Roger Brut vintage stops between 60 and 75 euros.

The Brut Vintage 2012 is a delicate pale golden color, underpinned by the persistence of refined bubbles. Elegant and subtle, the nose is full of freshness and opens with the scent of white peach, developing into richer dried fruit, followed by enticing notes of flowers, gingerbread, and mild, toasted sweet spice. Finely balanced on the palate with good weight of Pinot fruit and a complex structure and terrific length. Still young, stylish, and discreet, 2012 has great aging potential.

Disgorged in October 2018, the 2012 Brut Vintage offers up aromas of smoky peach, apples, pastry cream, white flowers, and mandarin. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, broad, and powerful, with more volume and amplitude than its Blanc de Blancs counterpart, revealing racy balancing acids, an already refined mousse, and the impressive concentration that typifies this low-yielding vintage. It's a classic blend of 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay that saw seven grams per liter dosage.

Champagne’s geographical location engenders capricious weather. For this reason, since their foundation in 1849 Pol Roger has observed the tradition of not releasing a bottle of vintage-dated champagne unless the climatic conditions permit the production of grapes of outstanding ripeness. Vintage champagne must, above all else, be balanced champagne. This balance depends on the right blend of healthy grapes, good potential alcohol, and correct acidity. The first criterion for declaring a vintage wine is its capacity to age. Devotees who have the patience to age their champagnes are rewarded with a more complex and richer wine.

On the whole, winter was mild and dry, however, there was a cold snap at the beginning of February. Following cool and rainy weather in early spring, unseasonal warm weather prevailed in late March, favoring an advanced bud break. This was followed in turn by rain, mild weather, and five spells of frost in April and May, of which two gave cause for concern. Furthermore, some vineyards were hit by hail on several occasions. These climatic challenges made for great variation in the development of the grapes.