2018 Domaine Ponsot, Morey St Denis Blanc 1er Cru "Clos des Monts Luisants" Vieilles Vignes 750ml

WA92

The 2018 Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Clos des Monts Luisants Blanc has turned out very nicely in bottle, mingling scents of pear and white flowers with hints of beeswax, toasted almonds and petrol. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and chiseled, it's nicely concentrated, with tangy acids and a layered core of fruit. Domaine Ponsot started picking on September 20, and winemaker Alexandre Abel reported yields some 35% to 40% below average, with alcohols in the 14s and healthy pHs at around 3.3. Yet while alcohols in 2019 were if anything higher than in 2018, the 2019 wines are more elegant, with livelier fruit tones and less overtly muscular structure. That's not a criticism of the 2018s, however, which we revisited from bottle, confirming that they are wines that will require patience: interestingly, the most put-together of the range was the Clos de la Roche, a cuvée that was bottled last, in July 2020, and which certainly seemed to have profited from the longer élevage.