Domaine Ponsot
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March - April 2008, Issue 137 Laurent Ponsot photo by Stephen Tanzer Domaine Ponsot Laurent Ponsot told me that four hours after the late 2006 Charmes Chambertin July hailstorm he was spraying copper and sulfur in (racked at the end of September) Deep red-ruby. his vineyards. The following week he eliminated all of Very ripe but reticent nose hints at blueberry and the affected fruit (Griottes-Chambertin was the worst blackberry and shows lovely lift. Closed and a bit hit, he told me, followed by Chapelle). In the end, youthfully simple now, even musclebound. Ponsot said following his normal late harvesting (he started on this was reduced prior to the racking, and it’s reducing September 27), Ponsot brought in fruit with sugars again. Hard to judge in its current form, but certainly between 13.5% and 13.8% and did not chaptalize. He sweet and clean. 88-92? rates 2006 at the same level of quality as 2004 and 2002, albeit in a different style. Incidentally, Ponsot 2006 Griotte Chambertin was again among the latest to pick in 2007: he started Good deep red-ruby. Sexy, carnal aromas of on September 12, after many of his neighbors had blackberry, iron and mocha. Broad, dry and minerally, finished, and picked until the 22nd. Once again, he with impressive intensity of flavor for 15-year-old did not chaptalize, and he reported having seven vats vines. Strong earth tones of mocha, brown spices and above 14%. rust. This is also surprisingly creamy but the mineral edge gives it shape and grip. Finishes broad, long 2006 Gevrey Chambertin Cuvee de L’Abeille and aromatic, with somewhat dusty tannins. Ponsot Good full red. Pure aromas of cherry and raspberry. says that today’s plants can “reach the real terroir,” Sweet, lush and pliant, with lovely sweet red fruits. by which he means can descend about seven meters, This boasts very good volume and finishes long and in as little as seven years. 93 suavely tannic. 88-90 2006 Chambertin 2006 Chambolle Musigny Cuvee des Cigales Good red-ruby color. Sweet cherry, mocha and nutty (this, the Gevrey and the Charmes-Chambertin were oak on the nose; more soil than primary fruit showing the only 2006s that had been racked as of early today. Almost shockingly sweet on entry, the sappy November) Good full red. Sappy raspberry and cherry and imploded in the middle palate, but with strong aromas show a slightly liqueur-like aspect. Fat and black cherry fruit. Difficult to assess today, but finishes dry, with a red raspberry flavor complicated by notes with real thrust. Ponsot has two barrels of this juice, of iron, smoke and meat. A concentrated, soil-driven and both of them are 20 years old! 91-94 wine that’s a bit heavy and lacking in high notes for Chambolle. (There’s no Morey villages in 2006 as the 2006 Clos Vougeot Cuvee Vieilles Vignes vines were replaced after the 2005 harvest.) 88-90 (Ponsot takes these grapes as payment for working the vines with a joint partner; the parcel is located 2006 Chambolle Musigny Les Charmes under the wall separating Clos Vougeot from Grands- Good deep red. Liqueur-like yet bright aromas of Echezeaux, according to Ponsot) Saturated ruby-red. cherry and raspberry. Supersweet and creamy, Black cherry, blackberry and licorice on the nose, lifted with red berry flavors nicely perked up by a mineral by a strong violety quality. Juicy, dense and primary, component. Finishes with substantial dusty tannins with a distinctly medicinal character. But this is a black and excellent length. 89-92 fruit bomb of great intensity and sappiness. Finishes with terrific reverberating length. This is 13.6% 2006 Morey Saint Denis Cuvee des Alouettes alcohol. 91-94 Good deep red. Pungent spices, mocha, chocolate and black cherry on the nose; this could only be from Morey-Saint-Denis. Big and rich, with a captivating sweetness to the soil-driven notes of smoke, meat, iron and leather. The subtly long finish throws off notes of leather, smoke and spice. This wonderfully aromatic http://www.wineaccess.com/expert/tanzer wine comes from 14-year-old vines planted within Ponsot’s Clos des Monts Luisants, which is situated Distributed by Vineyard Brands • Vineyard Brands Selections above Clos de la Roche. 89-92 www.vineyardbrands.com • www.tablascreekcom • PON022 2006 Clos Saint Denis Cuvee Tres Vieilles were impounded by U.S. Customs in Miami. It took Vignes the importer another week or two to pry them loose (these vines were planted in 1905) Good deep red- and I only received my box in mid-month. After all ruby. Knockout nose combines cherry, underbrush, that, it turned out there were just two samples of red chocolate, mocha and brown spices (Ponsot describes wine. Given all the trouble in getting these bottles, this as an “antique” wine, by which I assume he I figured the odds were high that at least one would means it’s like the Burgundies of a much earlier be corked. And thus I wasn’t shocked at an initial generation). The palate offers extraordinary creamy mustiness on the nose of this wine. My note will take depth and sweetness, with its soil-driven fruits lifted you through my experience, practically in real-time. by aromatic spices and minerals. Finishes with great Full red. Penetrating, slightly musty nose hints at dried spicy persistence. A compelling example of Clos Saint- flowers, pepper, minerals and fresh herbs, with a hint Denis dirt. The crop level here was about 14 hectoliters of raspberry; either slightly corked or marred by a per hectare, according to Ponsot, who added that the hint of old barrel. The palate offers superb energy, yield in 2005 was barely 10 h/h. 92-95 precision and cut, but much less obvious ripeness and weight than the Chapelle. In fact, this soil-driven wine 2006 Chapelle Chambertin is all about flowers, spices, herbs and lift. After 24 Deep, saturated ruby-red. Superripe, slightly high- hours: Deeper, bright red. A hint of mocha where the toned aromas of wild blackberry, black cherry and mustiness had been, along with musky strawberry, smoke. This, too, is a sweet, superripe fruit bomb, rose petal, smoke and cinnamon spice. Silky-sweet albeit in a rather powerful style and with a firm but with superb harmonious acidity giving great edge. Ponsot say it’s the wine’s tannins that give the penetration to the brisk flavors of red berries, blood impression of volatile acidity. Extremely rich for 2006: orange and spices. Much more red fruits and spices it will be interesting to follow this. 91-94 with the extended aeration. This endlessly fascinating wine, which is extraordinary in its energy and intensity 2006 Clos De La Roche Cuvee Vieilles Vignes but is by no means a powerhouse, transcends the Good full ruby-red. Incredible nose melds wild vintage and the variety and is utterly transparent to cherry, mocha, brown spices, iron, orange peel and the site. If my cork was not perfect, then the juice in underbrush. Like liquid silk on entry, then hugely the bottle is probably a 98-pointer; but if my bottle concentrated in the middle, with an extraordinarily was sealed with a perfectly sound cork, then an fine-grained texture and no easy sweetness. otherwise extraordinary wine will wear a whiff of faulty Impeccably balanced, soil-driven wine that finishes cooperage through its life like a scarlet “O.” I remain with noble tannins and great persistence. This is Clos optimistic. ?” de la Roche, not pinot. As of November, one of the most promising wines of this stealth vintage. 93-96 2005 Chapelle Chambertin Full, deep red. Superripe, distinctly high-toned aromas of dark cherry, mocha, tar, black tea and rooty licorice, with a pharmaceutical dusty quality and an emerging liqueur-like note of framboise Thick, sappy and extremely intense; a hugely rich wine that’s like a boiled-down essence of pinot, and yet powerful acidity gives it tremendous energy in the mouth. Notes of black cardamom and botanical herbs give this hugely rich wine a distinctly medicinal character. I had the feeling I was awakening a very angry bear during the early weeks of its winter hibernation: yes, it was the wrong time! 94(+?) 2005 Clos De La Roche Cuvee Vieilles Vignes There’s a story behind these samples and I’ll try to keep it short. Laurent Ponsot refused to show me his 2005s at the domain in November, saying they had been bottled recently and that they were sure to be ugly for at least a few months. He promised to send samples to me in early December via his U.S. importer and asked me to let them rest until late February, or just before presstime. Well, the samples did not arrive Stateside until early February and, since Ponsot had forgotten to mark “samples” on my box, they PON022.