2005 Domaine Ponsot Morey-Saint-Denis Cuvée des Alouettes 1er Cru

From upper slopes and younger vines within the estate monopole of Clos des Mont Luisants comes the 2005 Morey-St.-Denis 1er Cru Cuvee des Alouettes. Smelling of blackberry and black cherry jam, chocolate, toasted almond, coconut, and mint, this fills the mouth with confiture and nut brittle flavors and offers exotic, high-toned inner-mouth esters and a tactile sense of stony, chalky minerality that sets up counterpoint with the wine’s remarkable creaminess. A forceful finish cannot be said to possess strong delineation or refinement, but what sheer richness and length! Laurent Ponsot (like his father) vinifies to the beat of a different drummer, whether it is in his employment of a basket press from 1945, his reliance on exclusively (truly) old barrels, his aggressive pigeage, or his virtual refusal (since 1988) to sulfur the wines (nitrogen and CO2 are administered at bottling). The results are as distinctive as the methods, but also profoundly impressive and proven to age magnificently. Certainly one has to adjust to a background level of chocolate and that lack of a certain “pep” that is otherwise conveyed, MSG-wise, to wines given a normal quota of sulfur during their elevage. But after a few samples – and especially when I re-tasted these wines “cold” at 7:00 A.M. – I was fully attuned to their virtues. The alcohols in 2005 are as high as 15%, but you do not notice it, even when told. Asked when he intends to bottle, Ponsot replies “I don’t know. Maybe one or two in the Spring, maybe before the harvest, maybe afterward.” Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802.