Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes 2017

96 points William Kelley (Wine Advocate): “The 2017 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes is also showing very well from bottle, unfurling in the glass with a deep bouquet of sweet red berries, plums and cassis, complemented by sweet soil tones and lifted top notes of orange rind and peonies. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, it’s deep and concentrated, its velvety tannins and succulent acids cloaked in an ample core of fruit. This is a brilliant wine from Domaine Ponsot. Drink: 2027-2060. (Feb 2020)”

96 points Tim Atkin, MW (Decanter): ” The Ponsots’ 3.5ha holdings here are divided between the Monts Luisants and Clos de la Roche grand cru climats, producing a fine, elegant, floral cuvée with no new oak, plenty of precision and freshness and a sweet core of raspberry and wild strawberry fruit. Drinking Window: 2025-2032. (Oct 2018)”

93-96 points and ‘Don’t miss!’ Allen Meadows (Burghound): “(the aggregate size of this holding is a whopping 3.4 ha and Ponsot is by far the largest holder in Clos de la Roche). A spicy, cool and gorgeously complex nose reflects notes of both red and dark currant, earth and a whiff of leather. There is excellent richness to the concentrated and beautifully textured broad-shouldered flavors that possess focused power and a subtle minerality that really comes up on the youthfully austere and strikingly long finish. As good as the Chapelle is, there is just another dimension present here. Drink: 2037+. (Jan 2019)”

95+ points John Gilman (View From the Cellar): “The domaine’s 2017 Clos de la Roche ‘Vieilles Vignes’ is destined to be an absolute classic vintage of this fine cuvée. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a nicely black fruity blend of black cherries, plums, raw cocoa, gamebird, dark soil tones, gentle floral elements and a quite smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite powerful in profile for a 2017, with a rock solid core, ripe, fine-grained tannins and a very long, very precise and very promising finish. 2027-2085. (Nov/Dec 2018)”