-
97
/ 100
Decanter -
95
/ 100
Allen Meadows -
95
/ 100
The Wine Advocate
Red
Classification
Pinot Noir
Variety
2018
Vintage
750ml (Bottle)
Bottle Size
France
Country
Burgundy, Clos de la Roche
Region
12.5%
Alcohol %
Ready, but will Keep
Cellaring
Scores
97 / 100"It's fascinating to taste the two components of this superb wine, grown only 50 metres apart, as well as the finished blend to see that the pair are much greater than the sum of their parts. Retaining acidity and focus in a hot year, this is a refined, violet-perfumed Pinot Noir that combines sensuous texture and fruit sweetness with acidity and underlying tannic structure. Domaine Ponsot is flourishing under the new régime."
- Decanter
95 / 100
"This too is quite firmly reduced and aromatically unreadable. The velvety and opulent big-bodied flavors brim with an abundance of dry extract that imparts a seductive mid-palate mouth but also serves to buffer the remarkably firm tannic spine shaping the powerful and hugely long finish where the only nit is a suggestion of warmth. This is an imposing wine with the structure to match so this is one to buy and forget you own it."
- Allen Meadows
95 / 100
"Ponsot's 2018 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes was only bottled in July 2020, and its extended élevage has really refined the wine. Opening in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cherries and plums mingled with dark chocolate, preserved citrus peel, woodsmoke and spices, it's full-bodied, concentrated and powerful, with real depth and mid-palate amplitude, its rich, powdery tannins largely concealed in a generous core of fruit. This is a muscular wine somewhat reminiscent of a more gourmand version of the domaine's 2005, and it will demand patience.”"
- The Wine Advocate
Tasting Notes
This is, without any doubt, Domaine Ponsot’s top wine and one of the finest wines of the Côte de Nuits.
Domaine Ponsot is famously the largest landowner in Clos de la Roche, perfectly situated almost entirely within the historic Clos itself and with some of the oldest vines (averaging approximately 60 years of age). Domaine Ponsot owns almost three hectares of the original 4.5-hectare Clos (widely considered to be the finest part of the Clos de la Roche AOC). The rest of Ponsot’s holdings are within the Monts Luisants lieu-dit (which has always been bottled and sold as Clos de la Roche as it has the same soil but is higher on the slope).
When young, the wine can often be tightly wound and restrained, needing time to build and express itself. No such issues with the 2018—which, although a wine clearly built for the long term, is already expressing itself. It will also drink wonderfully well young when matched with the right food and if you’re ready for something deep and powerful.
Tasting Profile
- Light
- Full
- Low Tannin
- Tannic
- Sweet
- Dry
- Low Acidity
- High Acidity