2010 Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes

In stark contrast to the expressiveness of the Clos St. Denis, this is almost mute and even aggressive swirling liberates only the briefest glimpses of wild red berries and earth notes. There is superb size and weight to the imposing and overtly muscular flavors that also enjoy an incredible amount of dry extract that confers a supple and seductively textured mouth feel to the highly concentrated mid-palate. The presently buried tannins are intense and markedly firm though not hard on the explosively long finish that seems to go on and on. This should be something very special if given sufficient time to reach its apogee. Burghound 95-97 Don't Miss!

Producer note: The always direct Laurent Ponsot unequivocally pronounced that 2010 "is every bit as good as 2009 but completely different. There are a number of differences but perhaps first among them is that 2009 is much more marked by its vintage whereas 2010 is classic and transparent. Because I don't really have any vines down by the main road I sustained very little in the way of frost damage but because of the poor and extended flowering, there were by contrast a lot of shot berries. As usual, I elected to begin picking very late and didn't start until the 1st of October. There was essentially no sorting work necessary for rot though it was necessary to eliminate some under ripe berries. Yields were definitely down as my hectare equivalent crop was only 24 hl/ha. By contrast, potential alcohols were excellent at between 13.5 and 14%. I did my usual vinification of a 12 to 18 day cuvaison with 100% destemmed fruit. Given that the fruit was very clean there were really no issues to speak of though I will say that I was most agreeably surprised by the quality of the wines, in particular their sense of harmony and impeccable balance." As was the case in 2009, there will be no Morey villages Cuvée des Grives in 2010 as the vineyard is being replanted. While I tasted only a limited range of bottled 2009s, with the exception of the Chapelle, all of them scored at or near the very top of my projected ranges. In another development, Ponsot continues to add to his already very broad range of grands crus as he has supplemented his lineup with an old vines Clos de Vougeot (see the review below) and on the white side a Montrachet; the latter will be reviewed in Issue 47.