Winemaker Notes
The Brut Vintage 2015 displays a lovely golden hue with silver highlights. The subtle first nose opens with notes of fleshy ethereal hints of rose petals. Expressive and full of freshness, the bouquet is reminiscent of patisserie, pastries and dried nuts. It then evolves to reveal aromas of honey and apple jelly. The palate is round and elegant. A slight zesty quality sets off the notes of brioche, patisserie and toast, combined with licorice and dried nuts. The silky texture is accompanied by a lovely lingering acidity right through to the finish.
Blend: 60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Champagne Brut Vintage is 60% Pinot Noir, with the rest Chardonnay, and takes on the more noble feel of the house style. The nose is fragrant and delicate with flint and wet stone, red plum, orange blossom, and spice. The palate has structure and feels the strength of the Pinot Noir and the warmth of 2015, although it has the underlying structure to last. Dry, balanced, and salty, it will need some time before opening. Allow 1-2 years and drink over the following two decades.
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Wine Enthusiast
Still young, this is a fine Champagne. Its crisp texture and fresh citrus and white fruits are still full of vivacity. The wine is textured, hinting at minerality and should be aged further. Drink from 2024.
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James Suckling
Lots of spicy apple with sliced lemons and pears and hints of stone. Full-bodied with soft and layered bubbles that caress your palate. Dusty and succulent. Creamy finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pol Roger's 2015 Brut Vintage is generous and demonstrative, bursting with aromas of golden orchard fruit, nectarine, warm bread, buttered popcorn and orange oil. Full-bodied, broad and vinous, it's rich and fleshy, with a sweet, layered core of fruit, racy acids and a pretty pinpoint mousse. Stylistically, the 2015 has more in common with the richness and concentration of 2012 than the chiseled raciness of 2013. It's a beautiful bottle in the making.
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Wine Spectator
A graceful Champagne, with delicate notes of white cherry, poached apricot, pickled ginger and chalky minerals dancing across the palate, carried by the finely detailed mousse. Buoyed by racy acidity, this is mouthwatering, almost crunchy, on the spice- and smoke-tinged finish.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Associated with luxury, celebration, and romance, the region, Champagne, is home to the world’s most prized sparkling wine. In order to bear the label, ‘Champagne’, a sparkling wine must originate from this northeastern region of France—called Champagne—and adhere to strict quality standards. Made up of the three towns Reims, Épernay, and Aÿ, it was here that the traditional method of sparkling wine production was both invented and perfected, birthing a winemaking technique as well as a flavor profile that is now emulated worldwide.
Well-drained, limestone and chalky soil defines much of the region, which lend a mineral component to its wines. Champagne’s cold, continental climate promotes ample acidity in its grapes but weather differences from year to year can create significant variation between vintages. While vintage Champagnes are produced in exceptional years, non-vintage cuvées are produced annually from a blend of several years in order to produce Champagnes that maintain a consistent house style.
With nearly negligible exceptions, . These can be blended together or bottled as individual varietal Champagnes, depending on the final style of wine desired. Chardonnay, the only white variety, contributes freshness, elegance, lively acidity and notes of citrus, orchard fruit and white flowers. Pinot Noir and its relative Pinot Meunier, provide the backbone to many blends, adding structure, body and supple red fruit flavors. Wines with a large proportion of Pinot Meunier will be ready to drink earlier, while Pinot Noir contributes to longevity. Whether it is white or rosé, most Champagne is made from a blend of red and white grapes—and uniquely, rosé is often produce by blending together red and white wine. A Champagne made exclusively from Chardonnay will be labeled as ‘blanc de blancs,’ while ones comprised of only red grapes are called ‘blanc de noirs.’