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Historic Churchill magnums to go on sale
Two magnums of 1986 Pol Roger Cuvée which pay homage to Sir Winston Churchill are to go on sale at an auction in London next week.
Churchill, an ardent supporter of Champagne with Pol Roger said to be his favourite, maintained a stock throughout the Second World War, once famously borrowing Napoleon’s mantra: “I could not live without Champagne – in victory I deserve it, in defeat I need it”.
After his death in 1965, Pol Roger paid tribute to Churchill by adding a black border to all bottles of Pol Roger Brut Réserve ‘white foil’ that were sold in the UK – with the leader now a permanent feature of the house’s prestige cuvée range.
The two magnums, housed in cardboard presentation cases, are expected to fetch up to £800 when sold at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions Fine Wine auction on Wednesday 18 June in London’s Mayfair.
The auction will also see two bottles of Champagne Pol Roger Extra Dry 1952 from the estate of the late Jazz musician Humphrey Lyttleton go under the hammer to raise funds for the Humph Trust which supports supports young jazz musicians build their careers.
For more information on the sale click here.
A long time since I tasted the Pol Roger 1952, but in 1986 I wrote that it “was the best Champagne I had ever tasted” and in 1998 it was still in my Top Ten, although a lot of Champagne has flowed under the bridge since then.