Originally from Saint Romain in the Côte d'Or, William Ponsot acquired a winery in Morey-Saint-Denis and settled there. Its major plots are, Clos des Monts-Luisants and Clos de la Roche. He also cultivates other names, such as Gevrey-Chambertin The Combottes and Charmes Chambertin.
It was then that his nephew and godson, Hippolyte Ponsot, after a career as a diplomat, took over the estate. With the help of his brother, Henri Ponsot, also a diplomat (resident general in Morocco, ambassador of France in several countries), Hippolyte Ponsot substantially increased the area of the Clos de la Roche by buying 3/4 of the locality "Clos de la Roche".
He was already bottling estate wines for his entire crop. This was was very rare at the time and only a dozen vineyards in Burgundy did so before the Second World War.
1934 is when the winery began marketing in France, the United States and to many European countries. Laurent Ponsot ceases his activities within the Domain to devote himself to personal projects. Rose-Marie Ponsot becomes sole manager and takes over the management of the company assisted by Alexandre Abel.
Domaine Ponsot has produced wine from 10 vineyards. The domaine grows wine with a nod to biodynamic processes, using no fertilizer, pesticides, or weed killer, although the domaine makes no claim to being organic or biodynamic. At harvest time (Domaine Ponsot is one of the last producers to pick grapes in the Côte de Nuits), the grapes are selected in the vineyard (the domaine does not use a sorting table), picked into wicker baskets, generally not having been destemmed, for crushing on the winery's 1945-era vertical press.
After pressing, the wine is gravity-fed into oak, computer-temperature-controlled, fermenting tanks, where fermentation takes 10 to 20 days. Pigeage is done three times daily. From there, the wine is gravity-fed down to the barrel cellar. It is aged up to 30 months in barrels that are a minimum of 5 years old, before bottling occurs during a time when there is both a waning moon and a north wind. There is no use of sulfites; instead, the wine is kept under a blanket of nitrogen during racking and bottling to protect it from oxidation. The labels of the domaine have a white spot that will turn grey if the ink in them is subjected to extreme temperatures, thus indicating that the wine may be damaged.
Food Pairings And Serving
This wine matches well with duck, pork, veal, chicken, squab, tuna, salmon and other meaty fishes. It is best served at about 55°F. You can store the wine in a wine refrigerator at the same temperature, which helps the wine extend its longevity.
Tasting Notes
A very pretty nose of discreet spice notes, red currants and damp earth nuances that continue onto the rich, powerful and impressively concentrated medium-bodied flavors blessed with an abundance of dry extract that buffers the notably firm, mineral-driven and wonderfully complex finish that seems to go on and on.
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