Domaine Ponsot

Domaine Ponsot was founded in 1872 when William Ponsot's father purchased him a house and some vineyards in Morey-Saint-Denis, after William returned from serving in the Franco-Prussian War. A small amount of the domaine's wine was bottled by them at this time, mainly for private use and for the family's restaurants (they owned the franchise for all the station buffets in northern Italy at the time). When William died childless in 1926, the domaine was passed to William's nephew, Hippolyte Ponsot. The domaine began estate bottling in 1934; a rarity at the time, something only a dozen domaines did prior to World War II. Hippolyte retired in 1957, passing the domaine to his son, Jean-Marie Ponsot . In 1961, the domaine began working several new parcels under a type of agreement known as metayage—plots in Chambolle-Musigny, Chambertin, and Latricières-Chambertin. Their holdings expanded again in 1972, when Jean-Marie's wife, Jacqueline Ponsot Livera, inherited vines in Gevrey.

In 1981, Jean-Marie's son, Laurent Ponsot, began working at the domaine. This year also saw an expansion of the domaine's metayage agreements, adding access to Griotte Chambertin, Chambertin, Clos St Denis, and Chambolle Les Charmes from Domaine des Chezeaux (the Mercier family). Laurent took over winemaking duties at the domaine in 1983, and runs the domaine to this day.

Ponsot is best known for the Clos de la Roche, which incorporates a large portion of very old vines, and they are the largest land owner of Clos de la Roche as well. Ponsot is in a unique position to produce a rare mixed case that contains wines from 12 Grand Crus in Burgundy, which also includes Montrachet. One of the top Domaines of Burgundy, Ponsot is also famous for identifying fake lots of their wine that led to the arrest of Rudy Kurniawan.