By Jay McInerney

By coincidence, just a few days before the 1996 Pol Roger Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill nearly stole the show at a Champagne tasting I’d organized, I sat down with Hubert de Billy of Pol Roger at the Lion, in Greenwich Village, to check out his recent releases.  Pol Roger has always been a connoisseur’s Champagne, one of the smallest of the big houses, which has remained in the same family since its founding.  Hubert de Billy is the great-great-grandson of Pol Roger, who founded the house in 1849.

When I told de Billy that the greatest Champagne I’d ever tasted was a 1914 Pol Roger, he smiled.

“Yes that’s probably my favorite,” he said.  “We still have some left, thankfully.”

The vintage was unique due to the combination of spectacular weather and manmade catastrophe; the First World War had just broken out in August, and by the time of harvest most able bodied men had been conscripted and the vineyards were being bombarded by the Germans.  De Billy’s grandfather Maurice was the mayor of Épernay at the time.  In an attempt to boost morale he offered to buy any and all grapes from his neighbors.   “He said, pick as much as you can and I will buy it,” de Billy told me.  “When he ran out of money, he printed IOUs.”  Such was the mayor’s prestige that the IOUs were accepted as currency in the region until he was able to pay them off years later.  Due to the bombardment, the harvest was small, but quite a bit of it ended up at Pol Roger, a small stock of which remains in the company’s labyrinthine cellars.

After the war Maurice, who was an avid hunter and sportsman, forged close ties with the British aristocracy, making Pol the No. 1 brand in the British Isles.  One of its biggest fans was Winston Churchill; after his death the company created a special cuvée in his honor.  The first vintage, 1975, was bottled exclusively in magnums.

Released only in exceptional years, the Pinot-heavy cuvée has been called “Burgundy with bubbles,” and it is almost always one of the greatest Champagnes of the vintage.

When I asked de Billy what makes Pol Roger different, he answered unequivocally.

“Time,” he said. “Perhaps we’re lazy, but we do everything slowly.  We try to pick later than others, though it is not always easy to get the growers to wait.”  (About half their grapes are purchased.)  “And we ferment more slowly; we cool the must and take as much as one week longer than our neighbors.  And we bottle later.”  They also seem to release their Champagnes later. Of their new releases, the youngest vintage is the 2002 rosé, a beautiful, vinous bubbly that has great body and complexity.

Although Maurice, like Winston Churchill, was a Pinot Noir man, his successors have crafted a beautiful Blanc de Blancs from 100% chardonnay.  The current release here, amazingly enough, is the 2000, and it’s a beauty, full-bodied and toasty.  It’s a Blanc de Blancs for Pinot lovers.  Also just released: the 1999 Winston Churchill, which is more approachable on release than its predecessors, although still a big, powerful bubbly. It’s a food wine, really.

For everyday drinking, and for the perfect aperitif, it’s hard to beat the nonvintage Pol Roger, which is also a very good value.

The old standby Folonari produced my next two favorites. Both were easy to drink with an excellent quality-to-price ration. They are both available at Varmax Liquor Pantry for $20 (equivalent to $5 per bottle), 16 Putnam Avenue, Port Chester, NY 10573; 914.937.4930.

Folonari Pinot Grigio 2010 offers everything you expect from well-priced Pinot Grigio. It’s pale yellow with fragrant notes of fresh green apple; it’s dry, crisp with a good clean finish. A wine to pair with a wide variety of lighter fare. It’s also available in the box at Pops Wine for $17.50 (equivalent to $4.50 per bottle), 256 Long Beach Road, Island Park NY 11558; 516.431.0025.

Folonari Pinot Nero 2009 is a lighter-bodied Pinot Noir, which is exactly what you would expect from a wine made from this grape that hails from northern Italy. If you’re looking for Russian River Pinot, look elsewhere. If you want a light wine with lovely berry flavors and a mid-palate lift that easily pairs with most foods, look here. It’s also available for $17 per box at Shop-Rite Liquors Pearl River Wines, 46 North Middletown Road, Pearl River, NY 10965; 845.735.2023 .

Next in line are from the Argentine-wine powerhouse Trapiche. Both the Falling Star Malbec and Chardonnay are available from Exit 9 Wine and Liquor Warehouse, 9 Halfmoon Crossing Boulevard, Clifton Park, NY 12065; 518.688.0153.

Falling Star Malbec 2009 is a lovely example of a lighter-bodied Malbec. It offers concentrated flavors of berries, plums and cherries; those aromas blend with violets on the nose. This is one of the cleanest, freshest Malbecs I’ve hasted. The box is $17 at Exit 9 Wine and Liquor Warehouse ($4.25 per bottle)

Falling Star Chardonnay 2010 is an easy-to-drink South American Chardonnay. It’s medium bodied, with classic Chardonnay flavors and some oak influence. It’s a wine that will appeal to most New World wine drinkers. It’s $16 for the box (equivalent to $4 per bottle) at Exit 9 Wine and Liquor Warehouse.

Hurricane Irene, as everyone knows, inflicted only a glancing blow on New York City, but in the suburbs and beyond it was a much different story. The day after, we spent most of the day cleaning up around our house in eastern Long Island, and now it was time for some (hopefully) good wines.

Irene knocked out power to our entire town, along with about half a million other homes and businesses throughout the island. There was no damage to our place but lots of branches and leaves blanketed the property. Down the street some big trees were down, one crashing on a main power line, closing the road, another a huge weeping willow blown over, narrowly missing the historic home next to it. Fortunately for us our neighbors have a   big emergency generator and they were nice enough to let us run an extension line from their house to ours. Candlelight is fine for a night, but the adventure quickly gives way to frustration.

With the lights on we were able to start preparing a decent meal and went with a simple favorite – penne tossed with crisply sautéed Italian sausage and broccoli rabe. As we cooked we started off with what turned out to be just the right aperitif wine – a light and lively Italian rose, Santi’s 2010 Infinito, a Bardolino  from the Veneto region. Salmon colored, the blend is 65 percent corvina, 30 percent rondinella and five percent molinara. It was an instant hit with its cherry and strawberry flavors accented by some herbal notes and a touch of lime rind. Fruity and refreshing, it was great for casual drinking with alcohol at just 11.5 percent. The suggested retail price is $11. (Imported by Frederick Wildman and Sons, New York.)