The Clos Saint-Denis from Domaine Ponsot is one of the most famous and notorious wines in the world. This was the very wine that got Rudy Kurniawan exposed as a counterfeiter in the wine world when he attempted to sell bottles of the Ponsot Clos Saint-Denis produced prior to 1982 …

The problem is, well, Domaine Ponsot did not produce Clos Saint-Denis before 1982! But hey, everybody makes mistakes, right?

The vineyard plot we are talking about is the Clos Saint-Denis plot, previously owned by Domaine des Chézeaux and now sold to Charles Van Canneyt at Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat.

Burgundy is often extremely complex due to the different ownership structures and métayage agreements which further cloud the picture.

The sale of a complex estate like Domaine des Chézeaux certainly creates a lot of issues and even legal matters that can be very tedious regarding the vineyard ownership or rental.

Domaine de Chézeaux was sold to Domaine Hudelot-Noëllat in 2021, and this sale is now unfolding according to the very complex rules of Burgundy. This is indeed complex as there were no less than three métayage agreements linking other producers to the Domaine des Chézeaux vineyards.

The Domaine des Chézeaux plot is seen by some as the best plot on Clos Saint-Denis with its more than 100-year-old vines … Très Vieille Vigne …

CellarTracker Member

I was lucky enough to get a case of this so I don't feel too guilty at sacrificing one so young.

For those unfamiliar with Chezeaux, Ponsot's very old vine Clos St Denis comes from a vineyard owned by Domaine des Chezeaux. At bottling, 50% is bottled with Ponsot labels and 50% with Chezeaux labels. Both bottlings use the Guala "cork" which Ponsot champions. Total production is around 2-300 bottles, hence it is much rarer than Ponsot's flagship Clos de la Roche cuvee, but qualitatively its peer.

Drunk over three nights, on the first night this showed little but tightly coiled black fruit, tremendous length, refreshing acidity but little else.

24 hours later, the wine had added weight and fleshed out significantly. The black fruits had become more layered, the acidity had rounded out and I was feeling slightly less guilty about opening the bottle.

On the third evening, the wine finally gave a glimpse of what it will become. Extremely elegant but with quite astonishing length. A wonderful peacock's tail of red and black fruit, supported by a liqueur-like richness. This will be brilliant, one day, a long time from now! 9/8/2013