Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 2015

A notary's son and a collapsing cellar

Pol Roger was 18 when he made his first sale of wine, on January 2, 1849, to a merchant in Ay, his native village at the foot of the Montagne de Reims. He went into business because his father, a notary, had contracted an incurable disease and could no longer practice. In 1851 the firm moved to Epernay, and as early as 1855 Pol Roger began to favor brut Champagne, the drier style he knew the English preferred.

When the founder died of pneumonia in 1899, his sons Maurice and Georges took over. Months later, on February 23, 1900, part of the cellars and buildings collapsed, destroying 500 casks and a million and a half bottles. The brothers rebuilt, and that same year won the right to change the family name to Pol-Roger in tribute to their father. Maurice was the voice of the firm, handling sales and public relations, and was elected mayor of Epernay in 1912; Georges was the nose, the taster-in-chief.

The house came through Prohibition in the United States, the Russian Revolution, the crash of 1929 and the German occupation of the Second World War, when the Wehrmacht controlled the production and buying of Champagne. For six generations the founding family has run it.

The most drinkable address in the world

Churchill was a customer long before he was a legend. Records cited by one writer show him ordering a dozen bottles and a dozen half bottles of Pol Roger's 1895 vintage in 1908, the year he became engaged to Clementine. In the 1940s he befriended Odette Pol-Roger; accounts differ on whether they first met in 1944 or 1945. They remained friends for life, and Odette is said to have sent him a case of Champagne on every birthday.

He called the cellars at 44 Avenue de Champagne 'the most drinkable address in the world,' though by one account he never managed to visit. He named a racehorse Pol Roger, and the horse won its first race at Kempton Park on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. His favorite vintage was reported to be the 1928, and he was still drinking his 1934 when he died in 1965.

At Odette's request, the house put a black border around its labels when Churchill died. Decades later the street behind its Epernay headquarters was renamed rue Winston Churchill, and the family helped pay to replant the trees at Chartwell, Churchill's home, after the great storm of 1987 in England. Estimates of Churchill's lifetime consumption run as high as 42,000 bottles of Pol Roger, though some say that figure counts all his Champagne.

A prestige cuvee built to his taste

The house describes the Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill as a tribute to the qualities Churchill sought in his Champagne: a firm structure, a full-bodied character and relative maturity. Its motto is Churchill's own line, 'My tastes are simple, I am easily satisfied with the best.' The wine is made only in the very best vintages, only from grand cru Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards that were already under vine in Churchill's lifetime, and it is always released later than the house's other vintage Champagnes, in deference to his liking for older wines.

The first vintage was 1975, launched at Blenheim Palace, Churchill's birthplace, and bottled only in magnums. One writer dates the launch to 1984, making Pol Roger one of the last great houses to release a prestige cuvee. Since then it has appeared in 1979, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2015. The house made no 2014.

Pinot Noir always dominates, but the proportions are a closely guarded family secret. One writer puts the Pinot share usually at 70 to 80 percent; another critic reports about 62 percent for the 2015. A member of Churchill's family traditionally tasted each release before it went out: his youngest daughter, Mary Soames, who was present when Churchill and Odette first met, approved every release until her death in 2014.

2015: heat, then rain, then sun

The 2015 season in Champagne brought heat and a very dry summer, which reminded some growers of the scorching 2003. Rain arrived late in August, and the first weeks of harvest were cool and sunny. One writer calls it a helter-skelter vintage, with early warmth offset by mid-season rain and humidity. Pol Roger brought its fruit in from September 2 to 18 at a potential alcohol of 10.4 percent, with total acidity of 7.1 grams, a little low for the house, where it can often exceed 10.

Winemaking followed the house template. The must is settled twice, once at the press house and again cold, at 6 degrees Celsius for 24 hours. It ferments slowly in stainless steel below 18 degrees, each variety and village kept apart, and goes through full malolactic fermentation. The second fermentation takes place in bottle at 9 degrees in Pol Roger's deepest cellars, 33 meters below street level, and the bottles are riddled by hand, a rarity in Champagne today.

The 2015 spent about eight years on its lees, shorter than the ten years of earlier releases, and was first disgorged in September 2022 with a dosage of 7 grams per liter, a little lower than usual, as might be expected from a warm year.

Sun and muscle

Critics found a wine shaped by its warm year. Antonio Galloni of Vinous, scoring it 95 in May 2023, called it a 'mid-weight, lithe edition' showing 'the savory side of the vintage,' a fine effort in a year 'far trickier than most observers originally envisioned,' and suggested waiting before opening a bottle, with a drinking window from 2027 to 2045. Simon Field, writing in The World of Fine Wine, also gave 95 and found it more approachable than earlier releases, with 'no lack of power.'

Ken Gargett of Quill & Pad scored it 97, describing a deep gold wine 'all about sun and muscle,' with notes of hazelnut, beeswax, brioche and quince. Sarah Mayo of The Wine Independent gave 96, Peter Moser of Falstaff 97, Ian D'Agata 98 and Wine Enthusiast 99, calling it 'at a perfect stage' and saying it would age 'certainly until 2030.'

In the U.S. a merchant offered 750 ml bottles on pre-arrival for $229.95 in 2026. Multi-bottle lots also appear at auction.

The numbers

House vineyards

210 acres by 1999 (house holdings, not this cuvee alone)

Dosage

7 g/l

Antonio Galloni, Vinous (May 2023)

95

Simon Field, The World of Fine Wine

95

Sarah Mayo, The Wine Independent (November 2023)

96

Ken Gargett, Quill & Pad (July 2023)

97

Peter Moser, Falstaff (2024)

97

Ian D'Agata (2025)

98

Wine Enthusiast (April 2024)

99

Timeline

1. Jan 2, 1849

   Pol Roger, aged 18, makes his first sale of wine.

2. 1851

   The firm moves from Ay to Epernay.

3. 1899

   Pol Roger dies; his sons Maurice and Georges take over.

4. Feb 23, 1900

   Part of the cellars collapses, destroying 500 casks and 1.5 million bottles; the family name becomes Pol-Roger the same year.

5. 1908

   Churchill orders Pol Roger's 1895 vintage, the earliest order a writer cites.

6. 1953

   Churchill's racehorse Pol Roger wins its first race at Kempton Park on Coronation day.

7. 1965

   Churchill dies; at Odette Pol-Roger's request the labels carry a black border.

8. 1975

   First vintage of the Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill, later launched at Blenheim Palace in magnums.

9. 1984

   Launch of the cuvee, according to one writer.

10. 2014

    Mary Soames, Churchill's youngest daughter, dies after approving every release of the cuvee.

11. Sep 2, 2015

    Pol Roger begins picking the 2015 harvest.

12. Sep 18, 2015

    Pol Roger finishes picking the 2015 harvest.

13. Apr 2018

    Damien Cambres succeeds Dominique Petit as cellar master.

14. Sep 2022

    The 2015 is first disgorged, with a 7 g/l dosage.

15. May 2023

    Vinous publishes its 95-point review as the 21st release reaches the market.

16. 2026

    A U.S. merchant lists bottles on pre-arrival at $229.95.

The world in 2015

• Jan 7, 2015

  Gunmen kill 12 people at the Paris offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

• Apr 25, 2015

  A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes Nepal.

• 2015

  UNESCO adds the Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars, including the Avenue de Champagne in Epernay, to its list of protected world sites.

• Nov 13, 2015

  Coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris kill 130 people.

• Dec 12, 2015

  The Paris climate agreement is reached at the COP21 summit.

Daily price data

FLOAT reprices this wine every day from completed sales. Last updated November 12, 2026.

Every grade and recorded sale for this wine

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Pol Roger Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill 2015 is number 93 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (61 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The first Cuvee Sir Winston Churchill, the 1975, was bottled only in magnums.
• Churchill named a racehorse Pol Roger, and it won its first race on Queen Elizabeth II's coronation day.
• Pol Roger put a black border on its labels when Churchill died in 1965.
• The cellars beneath Epernay where the wine ages are 33 meters deep and riddling is still done by hand.
• In 1900 the house lost a million and a half bottles when part of its cellars collapsed.
• The street behind Pol Roger's headquarters in Epernay is now rue Winston Churchill.
• There is no 2014 Sir Winston Churchill; the 2015 followed the 2013.