DOMAINE PONSOT

MOREY, GEVREY, CHAMBOLLE

“One of the most distinguished domaines of the Cote de Nuits.”
Anthony Hanson, Burgundy, Mitchell Beazley

“[Laurent Ponsot] really hasn't missed since 1999.”
Allen Meadows, Burghound

“The results are as distinctive as the methods, but also profoundly impressive and proven to age magnificently…These are perhaps the most powerful wines in Burgundy.” “…it is amazing how phenomenal Ponsot's wines can be.” Robert M. Parker Jr

Domaine Ponsot, one of Burgundy’s most revered, innovative and iconoclastic domaines. This is a great, great vintage for Ponsot with wines that are so wonderful: so harmonious, so perfectly balanced, so intensely perfumed, so silken in the mouth.  There are so many important things to note about Domaine Ponsot it is impossible to know where to start and when to finish. Here are a few key points:

• This is a domaine very rich in history. Estate bottling commenced here in the 30’s as it did at Gouges and Rousseau. Clonal selection in Burgundy also began here and Jean-Marie Ponsot provided the “mother plants” from his ancient Clos de la Roche vines for the first approved Burgundy clones.
• Ponsot has fabulous holdings including perfectly situated parcels of very old vines in Clos St Denis (100+ years) and Clos de la Roche (where Ponsot is the largest land owner with some 3/4 of the original vineyard!) along with small holdings in Chambertin, Griotte Chambertin, Chapelle Chambertin, Charmes Chambertin, Clos de Vougeot, Chambolle Musigny 1er cru Les Charmes, and Morey 1er cru Monts Luisants (white & red). There is also some Bourgogne rouge and Morey and Chambolle village wines made.
• No new oak is used and Laurent Ponsot buys five year old barrels from other respected domaines to use on his own wines.
• The wines are late harvested (Ponsot is regularly the last Domaine to harvest in the Côte de Nuits) and a strict sorting occurs so that only perfect fruit makes it to the press.
• Very low sulphur levels are used, sometimes none at all (including none at bottling in certain vintages).
• The wines are aged slowly on lees, for up to 30 months.
• These elements (amongst others!): late harvesting, long (reductive) lees ageing, no new oak and very low sulphur make for very different, yet exceptional wines that typically require long ageing to show their best and ALWAYS must be stored in a dark, temperature controlled environment. They often benefit from a long decant when young.

This means the wines must be handled with kid gloves, stored correctly in temperature controlled conditions and that they can take a while to settle after shipping. Wine buyers should be very cautious therefore about acquiring older wines in Australia when there was no official Australian importer.

Ponsot has a new state of the art winery with all the modern gismos, including temperature controlled fermentation vats (open topped wooden vats) that can be operated via remote control. And yet the wine is made very naturally with indigenous yeasts, low sulphur and minimal intervention.