The Corona Gorda Crush (still struggling with that name) – Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No 1 (JUS OCT17) – Pol Roger 2012

For the last two cigars in the Corona Gorda reviews, I matched both with Pol Roger champagnes. I was doing a review of the 2012s, brilliant stuff, and so did not want to waste the bottles. Isolation had prevented the usual vultures descending to scoff my good stuff! So I made the sacrifice to slog through the bottles myself. As I write this, I'm forced to wade through some fabulous 2016 Barolos for the same reason (but the is cigar long finished). 

The Epi 1, as the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No 1 seems to be universally dubbed, is a 46 ring gauge (cue a crescendo of applause) and 143 mm in length, coming in slide lid boxes of 25. 

My example was of superior construction, firm and yet with a good draw. Opening with some nice toasty notes, quite rich. A touch woody. Some coffee grinds. For me, this is all along the Hoyo DNA. Quite powerful throughout. Good strength. Richness prevailed throughout and then, towards the finish, we saw some pleasing dark chocolate notes emerge. 

For me, the first third was good, the toastiness appealing. The last two-thirds were a step up. Terrific, with the darker chocolate notes really working well. Good complexity. While impressive now, I am sure that this will smoke well for the next 4-5 years at least. For me, 92. 

I'm not sure that the Epi 1 is as consistently good as this one, but one works with what one has. Thoroughly enjoyable smoke. 

Now, as I mentioned, it was Pol time for this cigar and the next one (smoked the cigars the same week). I had looked at them for a Quill and Pad piece (so expect some plagiarising of myself by myself) and I thought that no way were they going to waste. As this was bang smack in the midst of isolation, it was up to me to knock them all off solo. 

Pol Roger is a favourite House. Back in the day, it was pretty much the only champagne drunk in Brisbane. Before multi-national empires locked everything up in numbers and contracts, Pol had an arrangement with the Brisbane Club (I was not a member – too young – but the old man was). Everyone bought Pol (even the old man who did not drink). Everyone drank Pol. It was the first champagne I ever tried, sneaking a glass at a dinner party the family were throwing and drinking it under the kitchen table. For some reason, I thought it looked, and therefore would taste, like ice-cream. It did not – to my immense disappointment. From memory, the 1973. 

The first case of champagne, back when I was a student apparently I could afford that sort of thing – how things have changed – I ever bought was a case of Pol 1975, still one of my favourite vintages. It was about $13 a bottle. 

And the inimitable and wonderful Christian Pol Roger was the first person I met from the region, though that was hardly a glittering moment for me – we’d had an early morning footy game and afterwards I ducked into the local independent wine retailer for a look. Christian had just finished hosting a tasting, but when he saw a rather sweaty, barefooted youngster eagerly examining bottles and shelves, did he turn up his nose? 

Not a bit. Christian came straight over and started chatting in that enticing accent. I have met him many times since, although sadly he is almost fully retired now, but I have never reminded him of that first encounter. He remains a good friend, though our encounters are far fewer these days. It would be hard to imagine a more generous, charming, hospitable man. 

To digress, their flagship is the “Sir Winston Churchill”, the standard vintage exceeds the quality of the wines many houses claim as prestige: 1975, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1996, 2002, 2004, and 2008 are all brilliant champagnes, and most houses would be chuffed beyond imagination to call them theirs. 

Sir Winston Churchill drank well and drank widely, but nothing more so than champagne. And there was no doubt that he had a favourite house: Pol Roger! He is quoted as saying, “Champagne imparts a feeling of exhilaration. The nerves are braced, the imagination is stirred, the wits become nimbler.” 

Sir Winston had a long and complex history with Pol Roger, both the family and the champagnes. It is rumoured that he proposed to Odette Pol Roger, although this seems unlikely given that they were both married well before they met. They did become lifelong friends. Churchill named his horse after the House, and, fittingly, on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, it won its first race. Fitting as this is the champagne house so often used to celebrate royal weddings and other events, including the latest hitching of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. 

Odette was very keen on fly fishing, a passion shared by Christian’s cousin and another former director of the house, Christian de Billy. Odette always made certain Churchill had sufficient supplies of his favourite years. He went through huge quantities of the famous 1928 and was still drinking the 1934, 1945 and 1947, when he passed away in 1965. At that time, the house put a black border around its label in tribute to his life. And then, in 1984, when it finally released a prestige champagne, what else could it be called but the “Sir Winston Churchill”? That first release was from the 1975 vintage, all in magnum.

It is estimated that Churchill drank 42,000 bottles of Pol Roger during his life. Not a bad effort. Mind you, he is estimated to have smoked 250,000 cigars in his lifetime. Now, if you assume he smoked only from age 20 to 90, that means ten cigars a day, every day. 

As for the Pol Roger 2012, Churchill would have been delighted with it. 

Whether or not it will ultimately be seen as topping the 2002, which I think was utterly brilliant, is probably immaterial. Suffice to say, both are spectacular. This is, for me, the best since that great wine. A blend of 60 percent Pinot Noir and 40 percent Chardonnay, it was aged for seven years on lees before disgorgement and then spent further time in the cellars. Dosage is just 7 grams/litre. The grapes were sourced from 20 vineyards across the Montagne de Reims and Cote des Blancs, both Grand Cru and Premier Cru. The wine sees full malolactic fermentation. Riddling is by hand, which is the exception these days. 

Pale green gold, the aromas open with stone fruits and citrus, more specifically white peach and grapefruit. A minerally backing. Florals, notably white jasmine, and a sea breeze freshness. A hint of red fruits sneak in and out every now and then. It reminded me of a perfect Queensland autumn morning, intense blue sky and the ocean sparkling like diamonds have been scattered across it. The wine has great length and carries the vibrant acidity with it. Fine balance. Decadent, hedonistic. The stone fruit and peaches dominate the finish. This wine has an assured future ahead of it and should drink magnificently for many years to come. A glorious champagne now, with even better things to come. 97. 

And as a match, well, the Pol is such a joy to drink that matching it was almost irrelevant. I can’t put it any better than the great man himself – “My tastes are simple, I am easily satisfied with the best.”

KBG