Tasted in Morey St.Denis with Laurent Ponsot, 16 Novemeber 2016.
Domaine Ponsot
21 Rue de la Montagne
21220 Morey-Saint-Denis
Tel: +33 3 80 34 32 46
www.domaine-ponsot.com
Laurent on 2016:
“Of-course we had the problem of frost, and now I have wines from across the Côte d’Or. Across the domaine I lost about 2/3rds of a typical harvest, except in Morey St.Denis, which came in at 40 hectolitres per hectare – and normally I do 28 hl/ha – but much of the harvest came with superb grapes and many harvested at 14°. I started harvesting on the 7 October and worked about 7 days. In the middle of the growing season it was a question of hours, not days, to treat against the mildew…
2015, by comparison, was easy. The 2014 vintage is 90% terroir, whereas 2015 is 75% terroir and the rest is the vintage, and I think people mark this higher because it shows more of the vintage…”
The wines…
The wines tasted were all barrel samples, tasted in tasting room above the cellar.
No new oak could be… youngest barrels are ten years old. No new oak in any of the whites too – “Oak for me is like adding essence of strawberry or whatever,” says Laurent.
Laurent is the master of the late harvest, and all these wines work wonderfully, indeed fabulously. That said, I always suggest that you drink them in isolation – here you will extract the maximum of enjoyment and the wines will be worth the price of entry – otherwise they will seem very ripe when compared to those of other producers.
“I think these vines should be classified as Chambolle-Musigny villages…” ‘ This has finished malo, but is not yet racked.”
Deep and round on the nose. Big and fresh, with plenty of volume. A Super fresh and super long bravo!
Actually young vines planted in 2006, only the second vintage since then.
Much more depth and fine layers of fruit aroma. More texture, beautiful tannin, fine width. Simply gorgeous wine.
2015 Chambolle-Musigny Cuvée des Cigalles
This nose has a little less width with a little more floral top notes. Bright definitely more floral fruit, with a little extra structure too. Gorgeous.
Deep, with aromatic weight and texture, almost a vibration but without reduction. Bright, fresh, wide, almost a hint of gooseberry fruit. Bravo – super wine. Exceptional in the open ended finish!
2015 Morey St.Denis 1er Cuvée des Aluettes
From the Clos de Monts Luisants.
Deeper colour. Fresher but deeper and more structure. Its similar to the Chambolle Charmes in the mouth, with fabulous acidity and energy, but also with more structure. A mouth-watering long, long finish. Less comfort than the Charmes but no less wine…
2015 Corton Cuvée du Bourdon
The bumble-bee cuvée.
Almost saturated colour. Deep, faintly alcoholic nose. Wide, fresh, fine fruit, delivered as a beautiful intense line of flavour – structured too. A bright light of finishing flavour too. Slowly, slowly fading…
2015 Corton Bressandes
Just a little less colour. A textured aromatic, almost grainy below, more silky above, here with only a suggestion of fruit. A fresher stance – more volume, less weight, perhaps more tannin too – but delivered as a textural drag, not a grain. A weight of tastiness in the finish and then a last dry reminder that this is, after all, Corton. Lovely stuff!
Again, aromatically not showing its best. In the mouth there is much more freshness and line than virtually all Charmes-Chambertin I’ve ever tasted. More mineral and with a fabulous finish. Great wine with a fabulous delivery – the nose still has to settle, but this is worth anyone’s time.
2015 Chapelle-Chambertin
A better nose, if still a little diffuse, but this has a pretty base of fruit. More lithe and layered, with a little floral addition. A weight of mid-palate structure but with mouth-watering flavour leaching from the gums. This is super, even if it is less overt in the finish. Super stuff.
2015 Griotte-Chambertin
Laurent still says that he’s ‘the biggest producer in the world.’ 😉
Deeper, more open fruit. Textured width, nice complexity and a little well-controlled structure. Almost sumptuous but with enough rigour. Really wide in the finish. Yum!
These vines were planted in 1951, so Laurent has used the VV label since 2011 – he has no Bèze this (2016) year.
Oooh! That’s a fabulous core of ripe but very pretty fruit. Lithe, gorgeous texture, and a level of elegance that is rare for Chambertin. The finish is, as you might expect, open ended, and simply stays on the palate – really something…
2015 Clos de Vougeot Vieilles Vignes
A wider nose with a little more florality. Hmm a faint reductive element but I love the fresh structure of this wine and the way the flavours play over the tongue. Excellent!
Wide and ripe but high-toned ripe, slowly adding depth. Here is a cool personality, layered complexity, starting über silky then slowly adding some tannin. Clarity and texture entwined. Great wine. Not the biggest finish, but still extra long…
A deeper nose – also ripe, fresher above. Really fresh in the mouth, ‘clarity’ is my first thought. There’s a little extra fat than the CDR, then a waterfall of finishing flavour – there is something ‘extra’ here!
“Usually I finish with the Clos de la Roche, but this year I think it deserves its place,” says Laurent. I agree completely!
Les blancs…
2015 St.Romain Cuvee de la Mésange
A deep, almost custard-lemon fruit – but with freshness. Very silky; a wine of weight but fine complex fresh and precise flavour too. Plenty of power but elegance too. Bright and very tasty finishing – excellent.
2015 Morey St.Denis 1er Clos des Monts Luisants Cuvée Très Vieilles Vignes
This is the first vintage with some young vine grapes 15%.
Deep and fresh – super inviting aromas. Linear, silky, growing mid-palate complexity. Just a fabuLous length…. super different, lovely wine… There’s an impression of oak but that’s aligoté – otherwise you would never guess.
2015 Corton-Charlemeagne
‘I think there is still planted some aligote in this section…‘
Deep, almost musky with fine top notes. Layered delivery of flavour but with an ingraining, growing intensity. The flavour gets even bigger for a time after you swallow. A slightly different flavour profile than I’m used to, but no less great a Charlemagne for that.
2015 Montrachet
“We lost lots this (2016) year, maybe I’ll have to keep everything myself – I anyway didn’t start producing it to sell it!”
Super deep, with a custard impression at the base. Wide, padded, but fresh and mineral, a width into the finish that is a long and wide slow moving wave of flavour – and it runs into the horizon. A texture of tannin is the last remembrance.