Champagne Pol Roger was founded in Épernay in 1849 and remains one of the last great houses still owned and run by the founding family.

The house is inseparable from Sir Winston Churchill, who drank it for half a century and whose name was given to the prestige cuvée created in his honour. On his death in 1965, Pol Roger added a black border to its labels for the British market.

Its cellars run some 33 metres below Épernay — among the deepest and coldest in Champagne. The low temperature slows the second fermentation, which is much of why these wines carry so fine and persistent a bead. Riddling is still done by hand.

The Brut Réserve — the « White Foil » — is the house signature: equal parts Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier drawn from around thirty crus, and aged some four years on lees, well beyond the appellation minimum.

This is the Jéroboam: three litres, the equivalent of four bottles. Large formats age more slowly, the ratio of wine to oxygen being what it is, so the wine stays fresher for longer — and there is no more effective way to open a room.

Green apple and white peach lifted by brioche and toasted almond; a creamy mousse, ripe fruit through the middle, and a crisp, lemon-fresh close.