99 POINTS
Roger Voss - Wine Enthusiast
The great 2012 vintage shows well in this rich, full Champagne. Dominated as usual by Pinot Noir, the wine is powerfully ripe and impressively full of white fruits and tight minerality. Ready to drink from 2022, it is worthy of aging and certainly drinkable even in 10 years time.
Intense aromas of strawberry and subtle apple with pie crust and some ash and stone. An almost smoky undertone to the aromas. Full-bodied and very layered with ultra fine tannins that give it a rough-cut, velvety texture. It’s very flavorful, yet so checked and reserved at the same time. Compact, tight palate that is deep and powerful. Very vinous at the end and in the mouth feel. Spicy and biscuity at the finish. Mostly pinot noir with chardonnay and only grand cru. More density and complexity than the 2008. Seven years on the lees. Delicious and luxurious to drink now, but giving this some age will make it even better.
Sleek, with racy acidity, this tightly-meshed version nonetheless offers a lovely range of flavors, with ripe black cherry and currant fruit and accents of pomegranate, candied kumquat and raw almond. Finely detailed, creamily swaths the palate in silk-like texture, carrying the expanding flavor profile through to a graphite- and spice-laced, lasting finish.
96 POINTS
Tom Hewson - Decanter
Just as 2004 Champagnes often seem to eclipse 2002 today, some wonder whether 2013 will do the same to the highly rated 2012. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Sir Winston Churchill, though, where 2012’s strengths play to the drama and generosity of the style. This is a great Churchill of sunny, barley-sugar brightness, full of caramelised pineapple, blackberry and cocoa aromas, sparky with gunflint brightness and flowing with a silky, ripe generosity. It’s an outgoing Churchill, but one with a huge amount of inner strength for the long run. Tasted in magnum.
96 POINTS
Antonio Galloni MW - Vinous
Pol Roger's flagship Brut Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is fabulous in 2012. Rich, open-knit and seductive, the 2012 will drink well right out of the gate, although it certainly has the pedigree to age well for decades. Lemon confit, chamomile, dried flowers, mint, spice and a kick of brioche infuse the 2012 with notable textural richness and resonance. Time in the glass brings out gorgeous aromatic lift to round things out. The 2012 is classy and polished all the way.
95 POINTS
William Kelley - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Pol Roger's newly released 2012 Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill is showing brilliantly, bursting from the glass with youthful aromas of honeyed pears, toasted brioche, pomelo, fresh pastry, green apple and mandarin orange, with hints of stone fruit emerging with time in the glass. Full-bodied, vinous and textural, with an enveloping core of fleshy, concentrated fruit, bright acids and an elegant pinpoint mousse, it concludes with a long, penetrating finish. More muscular and vibrant than the generous and charming 2009, the 2012 ranks alongside the 2008 and 2002 as one of the three finest renditions of Sir Winston Churchill this millennium—and in style it resembles a hypothetical blend of those two vintages.
95 POINTS
Peter Moser - Falstaff
Creaminess on the nose is immediately evident, segueing into a lovely note of dry corn husk and salty shortbread with an echo of ripe Mirabelle. The palate continues with the same creaminess and a shortcrust vibe, smooth, billowing, almost mellow – but then there is the lovely and bright freshness that is sunny but brisk. It is the saltiness and a hint of oystershell that keeps pulling you back to this understated but really complex wine. Lovely now, certain to evolve. A.K.
Creaminess on the nose is immediately evident, segueing into a lovely note of dry corn husk and salty shortbread with an echo of ripe Mirabelle. The palate continues with the same creaminess and a shortcrust vibe, smooth, billowing, almost mellow – but then there is the lovely and bright freshness that is sunny but brisk. It is the saltiness and a hint of oystershell that keeps pulling you back to this understated but really complex wine. Lovely now, certain to evolve. A.K.
