Domaine Jean-Baptiste Ponsot
Burgundy, France
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About
Domaine Jean-Baptiste Ponsot
Jean-Baptiste Ponsot farms a total 8.5 hectares in the Rully AOP with a deep respect for the land that his family has been fostering for three generations. He employs organic practices but hasn’t sought out certification, preferring instead to prioritize the intrinsic health of the ecosystem and his vines. Domaine Ponsot’s holdings cover parts of three Rully premiers crus in Burgundy: Molesme, Montpalais, and La Fosse. In addition to the 1re cru parcels, Ponsot farms 2.83 hectares in the “En Bas de Vauvry” Monopole as well as another 0.46 ha in “Rully Village” vineyards.
Introducing Domaine Jean-Baptiste Ponsot
Domaine Ponsot was established by Lucien Ponsot in 1954 without essentially releasing a commercial “Domaine Ponsot” bottling. Lucien’s son, Bernard, had gradually expanded the family’s vineyard plots and selling the fruit to Olivier Leflaive. The stewardship transferred to Jean-Baptiste in 2000 when he was 20 years old. Since then Ponsot has been pursuing the establishment of a Domaine Ponsot ethos by small steps.
When Ponsot assumed control of the domaine, he started to gradually plant the underutilized parcels of land owned by the estate. Valuing the health of the soil and environment, Ponsot does not use insecticide, herbicides, or harsh antifungals. He clears the parcels by hand and aeration-tills with tractors seven to eight times a year up till July 14th. Any synthetic treatments are mindfully chosen over organic alternatives on the basis that the specific synthetic products are less intrusive than the organically derived ones. In the same vein, Ponsot has established such a healthy microbiome that, in spite of the severe disease pressure of Burgundy, he is using copper at half the rate of his neighbors. He will be spraying copper treatments 4 times a year while others spray 8 times and supplementing the spray schedule with preventative and homeopathic methods to intervene before rot becomes an issue. The fruit is picked to stay below 13.5 points potential alcohol and still show a balanced acidity.
Jean-Baptiste is not interested in expanding his business. Rather, he is content with perfecting the long chain between the vine and the glass. It is a bold decision for a young grower who began without a single bottle with the domaine’s name on it to producing only 100% bottled wines—wines that cohere to the style of viticulture Ponsot practices. The goal is to produce wines with combativeness and intensity of depth, and the wines are considered “precise, taut and ripe.”
For more on Domaine Ponsot, visit This Year's Harvest.
