“A single glass of champagne imparts a feeling of exhilaration. The nerves are braced, the imagination is agreeably stirred, the wits become more nimble. A bottle produces the contrary effect. Excess causes a comatose sensibility. So it is with war, and the quality of both is best discovered by sipping.” - Winston Churchill on Champagne.
(Sir Winston Churchill. Photo- AP Photo Archive.)
His brand of choice of course was Pol Roger, longtime holder of the royal warrant and one of the wines served at the wedding reception of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It is said that Britain’s wartime Prime Minister consumed 42 000 bottles of Pol Roger over the course of his life.
After the liberation of Paris, British Ambassador to France Duff Cooper introduced Churchill to Madame Odette Pol-Roger herself at an Embassy party. Acccording to Cecil Beaton, Madame Pol-Roger was one of the most beautiful women of her generation. She and Churchill quickly struck up a friendship that evening which was to last until Churchill’s death, and which was the start of an enduring connection between the family firm and one of their most distinguished patrons. That connection lives on to this day through their finest Cuvee named in Churchill's honour.