Domaine Ponsot: 150th anniversary vertical tasting

Burgundy’s Clos de la Roche Grand Cru is literally legendary: a local tale mentioned by author Jacky Rigaux (among others) would have it that the ‘Roche’ in Clos de la Roche was a dolmen used as a sacrificial altar by Celtic Druids in pre-Roman times.

Rose-Marie Ponsot, however, suggests a less alarming possibility: ‘What is clear is that we find in the Clos de la Roche large pieces of stone that have detached from the bedrock,’ she says.

Scroll down to see Charles Curtis MW’s tasting notes and scores for 34 Domaine Ponsot wines

The place

The vineyards of Clos de la Roche and the neighbouring Clos des Monts Luisants enjoy a prime location along the sweep of the Côte de Nuits, with the upper slopes on Bathonian limestone covered with marl and small pebbles, and the lower portions on crinoidal limestone (calcaire à entroques) from the lower Bajocian period.

These two sites are near the centre of an almost-contiguous stretch of grand cru vineyards from Mazis-Chambertin in Gevrey to Bonnes-Mares in Chambolle.

The largest proprietor in both of these lieux-dits is the historic Domaine Ponsot, which celebrates 150 years of history with a series of remarkable events this year, including stunning vertical tastings of Clos de la Roche and Clos des Monts Luisants.

The year will be capped by an auction to be held this autumn at Christie’s Geneva of recently released vintages back to 1959 and an entire barrel of Clos de la Roche Cuvée Hippolyte 2022, produced from the parcel purchased by Hippolyte Ponsot in 1922.

Ponsot’s history

Domaine Ponsot was founded in 1872 by William Ponsot. In 1922, he died without an heir and the family vines were taken over by his nephew Hippolyte, who had pursued a career in diplomacy and banking far from the village of Morey-St.-Denis.

Hippolyte first began to estate-bottle his wine in 1922, and from 1932 he bottled the entire production. He was joined by his son Jean-Marie in 1942, and the two worked together until Hippolyte retired in 1957. Jean-Marie was joined by his son Laurent in 1981, who fully took over management with his sister Rose-Marie in 1997.

Jean-Marie Ponsot passed away in 2017. It was also in 2017 when Laurent Ponsot surprised the world of wine by announcing his departure from the domaine to form a négociant business with his eldest son Clément, leaving Rose-Marie to run the family domaine assisted by Alexandre Abel and her nephew William.

Laurent retains the metayage agreement with the Mercier family, which includes the parcels of Griotte-Chambertin, Chambertin, Clos St Denis and Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Charmes that were formerly bottled by Domaine Ponsot. Laurent and Rose-Marie each retain a 25% stake in the family domaine, as do their sisters Catherine and Stéphanie.

Vineyard holdings

The domaine owns vines in Chapelle-Chambertin Grand Cru, Morey-St-Denis Premier Cru, village-level Morey, Gevrey, and Chambolle, but the family is chiefly known for their holdings in Clos de la Roche, where they are by far the largest owner.

They have 2.2ha in the historic lieu-dit of Clos de la Roche itself and 1.15ha on the lower slopes of Les Monts Luisants which is also classified as Grand Cru Clos de la Roche.

When the appellation Clos de la Roche was created in 1936, the original 4.5ha lieu-dit was expanded to over 15ha by the addition of neighbouring vines in the lieux-dits of Les Mochamps, Les Fremières, Les Froichots and Les Chabiots.

Vines further up the slope in Les Genaivrières and Les Chaffots were also added in 1971 to attain the current size of 16.9ha.

The central lieu-dit that gives its name to the appellation, however, has long been considered the best portion of this vineyard. Domaine Ponsot believes this lieu-dit gives the substance to its wine, while the Monts Luisants brings the freshness.

Winemaking

Despite the changes in personnel at Domaine Ponsot, little has changed in the vineyards or in the winery. The work in the vineyard has always been relatively non-interventionist. Laurent began long ago to reduce the use of all synthetic products and eliminate herbicides – the soil is either grassed over or tilled.

Harvest has always been relatively late, as records from their father Jean-Marie dating to 1953 demonstrate. Sorting in the vineyards has always been rigorous.

In the winery, the grapes continue to be completely destemmed and fermented with native yeasts in open-top wood fermenters. A combination of punching down and pumping over is used (mostly the latter in recent vintages).

Cold soaking before fermentation is avoided, and the temperature of the fermentation is usually not allowed to pass 30°C. The wine is pressed off as soon as it is dry, and ageing is done in 100% used barrels, as it has long been.

The bottles are sealed with the synthetic cork by Ardea Seal called AS-Elite, as they have been since 2012. Ponsot began to reduce the amount of sulphur in 1989, a change made possible by the addition of better refrigeration of the tanks and a system to blanket them with nitrogen when needed. Today, very little sulphur is used.

The white

In addition to its Clos de la Roche, Domaine Ponsot makes both red and white wine from the premier cru portions of Les Monts Luisants.

The white wine produced here is unique. White wines from anywhere in Morey are rare: Sylvain Pitiot notes in his book Les Vins de Bourgogne that they represent just 8.1% of production in an average year; in Morey Premier Cru, the proportion is just 4.1%. The one produced by Ponsot, however, is the only one made with Aligoté.

The roots of Aligoté in this vineyard go back to the 19th century. Although many producers later planted Chardonnay, William Ponsot persevered with Aligoté, replanting it in 1911 after the phylloxera crisis to ensure its survival.

In the 1930s, his nephew Hippolyte planted a portion of this vineyard (about 15%) to Pinot Noir à jus blanc (aka Pinot Gouges, a mutation of Pinot Blanc discovered by respected producer Henri Gouges). Even later, in the 1960s, his grandson Jean-Marie planted Chardonnay. Laurent Ponsot, however, removed the Pinot Gouges after the 1992 harvest and the Chardonnay after the 2004 vintage, leaving just the ancient Aligoté.

White winemaking at Ponsot has evolved somewhat over time. Before 2000, a vertical press was used, but now the domaine favours a pneumatic press.

Under Laurent, the grapes were crushed and settled thoroughly before the fermentation; today, the bunches are pressed without crushing, but the settling process is lighter, and the fermentation is done with a higher percentage of lees.

Originally the fermentation was done in barrel, but now it is done in stainless steel and run into barrels for ageing.

Since 2000, malolactic conversion has been done, although before this it was either fully or partially blocked. As with the reds, no new oak is used for the ageing, and the barrels used are at least three to four years old.

These minor points highlight the attention to detail across the board at Ponsot, and this tasting shows that the wines today are at an exceptionally high level and are among the reference standard for the entire region.

See Charles Curtis MW’s tasting notes and scores for 34 Domaine Ponsot wines

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