You invariably encounter optimism from James Simpson, the managing director of Pol Roger Portfolio and chairman of the Champagne Agents Association, a group of UK Champagne importers. The veteran MW, and one of the more affable, accepts this is one of the toughest periods facing the wine industry but is encouraged by how the marked global fall in Champagne sales of 2024 came close to being arrested in 2025. Pol Roger consumption in the UK, he suggested, has rallied strongly, with the house “making better wine than ever” at its new state-of-the-art €50 million production facility in Epernay that was opened in 2024.
According to the Syndicat Général des Vignerons de la Champagne, an 11% fall in Champagne exports in 2024 became a slight decline of 1% in 2025, whose figures were negatively impacted by unusually high end-of-year sales in 2024 to the US to beat potential tariffs.
“Actually the figures coming out show Champagne has had a remarkably good year,” Simpson declared at the Pol Roger Portfolio On-Trade Tasting in south London in mid-February. “It’s about the only highlight in the fine wine business. While the rest of fine wine is quite disappointing at the moment, Champagne is still strong. And that gives us a nice foot in the door with all these cool guys who own restaurants, hotels, clubs, bars and God knows what. So we’re more confident than the rest of the trade is at the moment. But we’re very small and select, with 20 members of staff and 20 agencies, and that’s plenty.”
Despite being entirely French-owned, Champagne Pol Roger has become “the most British of Champagne houses” as Simpson puts it. Details of precise annual production figures are notoriously difficult to extract from houses, but Simpson revealed Pol Roger look to make no more than two million bottles per year, of which around 20% are exported to the UK. The company is more than happy with that percentage, not wishing to increase it significantly.
Expanding into California and Australia
Mulline: 'new cool kids on the block'
These sales, though, have given the Pol Roger Portfolio security, and allowed Simpson and his buying team to be imaginative with their selections, particularly in California and Australia.
“We have a selection of seven small family producers in the Napa, and I hope we’re a leading light in terms of what’s going on out there as we think they are the equal of the best around the world,” Simpson purred. “We’ve got some newish stuff out of Australia as we have confidence in Australia when the rest of the trade doesn’t seem to be interested. Everything else in Australia is expensive but its fine wines, even iconic ones, are good value.”
More on those New World agencies later, but first the Pol Roger wines. Chloé Verrat, the house’s new director of marketing, was on hand to present the Vinothèque Brut Vintage 2004, a small release of which is being made available to the British on-trade. The Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 2015, which spent almost ten years on the lees, showed regal autolytic notes that would doubtless have pleased the country’s great leader, whose friendship with Odette Pol Roger originated at a dinner party at the British embassy in Paris in 1945. The exact cépage of the Churchill cuvée remains a secret, although Verrat did reveal it corresponded with his predilection for Pinot Noir, with a ‘hint’ of Chardonnay.
"The figures coming out show Champagne has had a remarkably good year,” says James Simpson MW
The Pol Roger Portfolio’s impressive Old World representation features a triumvirate of wineries from France that are family-owned, sustainable and at the top of their game. Drouhin Vaudon is now the largest biodynamic estate in Chablis; Domaine Vacheron in Sancerre has likewise been farming biodynamically since 2005; and Maison Joseph Drouhin vinifies fruit with minimal intervention from its grand and premier cru sites across Burgundy. A new Italian agency that Pol Roger Portfolio has taken on is Sandrone, a family-owned estate making modern Barolo, Dolcetto and Barbera.
“Sandrone are iconic restaurant wines, and we are obsessed with selling them to the restaurant trade,” Simpson professed, adding they work well on a list because they are competitively priced. “That I think is the battle. Margins have gone up exponentially in the restaurant/hotel trade over the last couple of years. So, selling expensive wine through a restaurant is really tough at the moment because people aren’t prepared to spend more than £150 a bottle on average. So you need to find good value at the beginning but what’s good is that the younger generation of restaurateurs seem to be moving beyond natural wines to proper wines, and that suits people like us who can supply them with something interesting, which isn't everywhere and doesn’t have huge distribution. We seem to be in a sweet spot of having brands people actually want.”
Certainly, the Pol Roger Portfolio’s Australian and Californian agencies have been sagely selected. The former comprise a Yarra Valley legend in Mount Mary, an outstanding Margaret River winery in Voyager Estate and an up-and-coming star in Mulline Vintners from the Geelong region.
“Mount Mary is iconic but nobody had tasted it as it disappeared off the market for years, being sold through La Place,” Simpson said. “But it’s come back into the old distribution system. As for Mulline, we got the tip-off about them about four or five years ago from a Mornington Peninsula sommelier. He said these are the new cool kids on the block. We’ve been with them from the start, and we think they’re really good and offer value with the price of Burgundy having gone up exponentially. They’re proper cool climate, not trying to be big Australian examples.”
Talented winemaker Ben Mullen, who previously worked at Yarra Yering, Oakridge, Torbreck, Leeuwin Estate, Craggy Range and Domaine Dujac, crafts site-driven, refined wines that articulate the distinct terroirs of Geelong, with particular emphasis on Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah.”
Star winemakers and distillers
Brad Grimes - showing older vintages
Talking of star winemakers, Pol Roger Portfolio boasts another in Brad Grimes of Napa producer Abreu, whose masterclass at the tasting featured older vintages (2012-14) and the 2021s from his four single vineyard labels – Cappella, Madrona Ranch, Las Posadas and Thorevilos.
“Brad’s one of the great winemakers of California,” Simpson declared. “If you had all the money in the world, you’d drink Abreu as it’s lottery winners’ wine. My favourite from Napa is the Kinsman Eades Cabernet Sauvignon, which I drink at home. There are still great stories coming out of California. I go out there every couple of years and there’s always someone new, someone exciting opening up. It’s a bit like Burgundy of old…they’re all related or working for each other. Pol have become a leading light in Napa Valley distribution when everyone else is slightly scaling it back.”
The remaining quintet of Pol’s world-class Californian stable are Staglin Family Vineyard, whose historic Rutherford Bench estate was first planted in 1864; Cornell Vineyards, in Sonoma’s Spring Mountain, which dates back even further; revered Napa producer Bryant Estate; Robert Sinskey Vineyards (both Napa and Sonoma); and TOR Wines, another Napa Valley icon founded by the celebrated Tor Kenward.
Peter Donnelly
Finally, “a brand that has revolutionised our business” as Simpson put it, annnounced a new release at the tasting. The venerable Speyside distillery, Glenfarclas, that was first licensed in 1836, have re-introduced a 17-year old whisky into the market to fill the void left by the 21-year old which was taken out of it four years ago. Glenfarclas’ brand director, Peter Donnelly, was on hand to explain the thinking behind it.
“We feel there’s quite a big step between the 15 and 25-year olds,” he said. “So the 17 will fit in nicely into the market. We’re actually launching it this week to our customers, with a retail price of £130-140. There’s quite limited stock but we want people to buy it and buy another bottle.” Like all Glenfarclas spirits, it is matured fully in ex-Oloroso casks. Rich and spicy, it represents another majestic addition to the distillery’s long line of great whiskies.
Five wines that caught the eye
Abreu, Thorevilos 2017
Opaque in colour, this powerful example of super-premium Napa Cabernet Sauvignon from a renowned site contains a smallish percentage of Cabernet Franc and a dash of Petit Verdot. Firm but fine-grained tannins are counter-balanced by vibrant acidity and layers of concentrated black and blue fruit, notably blackberries, black cherries and blueberries. Opulent yet refined, with layers of complexity and a very lengthy finish.
Bodegas Artardi, Quintanilla 2018
Family-founded in 1985, Artadi left the Rioja DO in 2015 to focus on Alavesa terroir-driven wines. From organically grown Tempranillo fruit, this medium to full-bodied wine with chalky tannins has aromas of violet, lavender and clove. On the palate, there are notes of blackberries and blueberries with some stony minerality. Fresh, complex and very long.
Chloe Verrat
Champagne Pol Roger, Cuvée de Réserve Vinothèque Brut Vintage 2004
Pol has long been renowned for the top quality of its 'bubbles', and this library release from the 2004 vintage is blessed with a characteristically fine, tight mousse. Seductive aromas of flint, nectarines, cashews and grapefruit. Imbued with both salinity and notably bright tension, this has biscuity and brioche notes ahead of a long, spicy finish. Disgorged 2015.
Sandrone, Le Vigne Barolo 2021
The multi-vineyard blend of Le Vigne affords a balanced wine with earthy aromas of truffle, flowers and spice. Lean, tight and muscular with powerful tannins balanced by vibrant acidity, the wine has notes of raspberries and red cherries with hints of balsamic and mushrooms. Multi-layered and long, it is approachable now but will reward further cellaring.
Voyager Estate, MJW Chardonnay 2020
Named after founder MJ Wright, this is a thrilling Margaret River Chardonnay which is crystalline, flinty and spiced with layers of undulating flavours of white peach, nectarine and citrus. It has a tight, zesty acid line that provides freshness and balance. A delicious creamy honeycomb texture adds complexity to a wine that glitters with purity, finesse and class. Such a long finish.
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