Laurent Ponsot

Domaine Ponsot is a family-owned wine producer in Burgundy. It is known for its red and white wines made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but is also well-known for the Morey-Saint-Denis Premier Cru Clos des Monts Luisants, the only 100-percent Aligoté premier cru wine in Burgundy.

The first Ponsot on the scene was William, originally from St Romain but on returning from the Franco-Prussian war he settled in Morey St Denis in 1872 and bought vineyard land including the Clos des Monts Luisants. He was succeeded in 1920 by his cousin and godson, Hippolyte Ponsot, who was joined by his son Jean-Marie in 1942. Jean-Marie, long-time mayor of Morey, ran the business from 1958 until the early 1980s when his son Laurent, currently the man in charge, took over. Laurent Ponsot takes a very individual approach. He uses no insecticide or pesticide but does not call himself organic. He pays attention to the moon and the stars, and the rhythm of plant life, but would not wish to be described as biodynamic. When the grapes are, eventually, picked, they received a faint dusting of sulphur but no more is used either during vinification or maturation, or indeed at bottling, except in the case of a specific problem.

Laurent Ponsot resigned his position at Domaine Ponsot in early 2017 to establish his own business in Gilly-lès-Cîteaux with his son, Clement. While he retains a 25% share in the vineyards of Domaine Ponsot, Laurent has no active involvement in the business. For his new venture he will continue to source fruit from his sharecropper arrangement with the Mercier family which includes the parcels in Griotte, Chambertin and the Chambolle 1er Cru “Les Charmes”. These vines have been farmed by Ponsot since 1982. Laurent has also retained his ownership of a .38 hectare plot of very old vines in Clos St. Denis. Many of the white wines are named after flowers e.g. Meursault Blagny Cuvee du Myosotis, named after the flower known in English as Forget-me-not. Reds take their names from trees e.g. Bourgogne Cuvee des Peupliers, named after the Poplar tree. In 2015, Laurent kept only one barrel of each of his Domaine Ponsot wines, except three of Corton Charlemagne. All the labels of this vintage are marked “An Zero” meaning year zero, considering that the first vintage is the 2016. These labels are highly prized by collectors and are in very limited supply.