Clos de la Roche "VV"		1992	Dom. Ponsot

11/96. Acquired directly from Ponsot's cellars May-96 for $40.
This is the first (last?) 1992 (B) I ever bought. Laurent Ponsot was reluctant to sell us anything at all on our recent visit to his cellars. He said the 1992 was the only vintage he has anything left from. As I am quite partial to his Clos de la Roche and the price seemed ridiculously cheap for his wines, I bought 3 bottles for less than I usually pay for one... He also said the wine is to be tasted soon, while waiting for the older and better vintages to mature.
Need I say that this is by far the youngest Grand Vin de (B) I ever tasted?
COLOR: Palish brick-red, noticeable clearing towards the rim. Hardly impressive, even for (B).
NOSE: For more than an hour after opening, the dominant aroma was that of stench! We were not sure whether this resulted from an overdose of sulphite added to the wine or that rot crept into the vines that were used... That stench was not the only component we could detect. There was some fresh cassis and other berries plus a faint reminder of a nice 'Bourgogne Nose', but all that was deeply buried that dominant stench. After an hour or so most of this unpleasant smell went away, but at that time most of the good aroma components weakened too.
TASTE: In contrast to the nose, on the palate the noble vineyard was immediately recognizable. Though the least concentrated Clos de la Roche I ever tasted, the complexity of flavors was there all right. A bit "diluted", a bit too acidic, but nevertheless a Grand Cru no doubt. Went perfectly with assortment of hot appetizers.
LENGTH: Almost no aftertaste at all except for the sourish tinge of the discernible acidity.
TEXTURE & BALANCE: Medium bodied, weak tannins, reasonable fruit, a lot of acidity, too short on 'wininess'.
OVERALL: A very good wine from a very weak vintage. I know many winemakers try to compensate for such weak vintages by extra effort in their cellar work. Domaine Ponsot is of the opinion that the winemaker should do his utmost not to intervene with the vintage characteristics. Well, for better or worse, they were true to their philosophy here...
MARK: 17/20.aaaaaaaaBUY MORE? No(*).
(*) For a $40 this is a good buy. However, I suspect the market price of this wine is much higher - hence the "No".

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Copyright 1996-2003.
Jacob "Yak" Shaya.