{"id":1560469,"date":"2026-01-23T11:54:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.67pallmall.com\/what-ive-learned-laurent-ponsot\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:54:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:54:01","slug":"what-ive-learned-laurent-ponsot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.67pallmall.com\/fr\/what-ive-learned-laurent-ponsot\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT I’VE LEARNED |\u00a0Laurent Ponsot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Laurent Ponsot was the much f\u00eated fourth-generation winemaker at Burgundy’s Domaine Ponsot, before shocking the wine world in 2017 by quitting the family business to launch his own eponymous nego\u00e7iant line. While at Domaine Ponsot, he fought a long-running campaign to expose the spate of counterfeit wines at auction, ultimately leading to the conviction and imprisonment of fraudster Rudy Kurniawan. Today he runs Laurent Ponsot with his eldest son, Clement <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\u2018I don\u2019t worry about climate change at all.<\/strong> We\u2019ve been farming vines for more than 2,000 years in Burgundy, and during that time, we have had heatwaves. During the 1930s and the 40s, the Domaine Ponsot wines all had an alcohol level above 14%, sometimes 15%. My grandfather was already recording the temperatures back then, and over those 20 years, every summer had at least one week where it was over 40\u02daC. The only reason these weren\u2019t great vintages was because it was nearly impossible to control the temperature of the vats, so one year in two, they produced vinegar.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Today we are in a heatwave. And while I am not happy for planet Earth, it is great for Burgundy.<\/strong> The last bad vintage we had was 1984. But it\u2019s a phase. I refuse to call it global warming. We have higher temperatures all over the planet right now, yes, but nature is so strong, and one day it will go back to a colder phase. We focus on it too much in the wine world. But common sense doesn’t exist anymore. We\u2019re not going to plant Grenache or Syrah in Burgundy.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Ponsot at his new winery, which he describes as ‘avant-garde’. The wealth of technical tools at his disposal, however, are there to help him avoid too much manipulation, he says<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I’m so attached to Mother Nature that I don’t want to interfere with her if I can help it.<\/strong> But if she needs help\u2026 In 2024, for example, when it was very wet, it was impossible to farm organically or biodynamically. Anyone who did so made zero wine. It’s like human beings. I lead a healthy life. I drink well, I eat well, I do some exercise. But if one day the doctor says, \u201cYou have a disease. Unless you take this pill, you will die.\u201d Well, I don’t want to know what\u2019s in the pill \u2013 I take it immediately.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It\u2019s the same in the winery. You don’t take aspirin every morning thinking you might have a headache during the day.<\/strong> So why would you put systematically put sulphur dioxide in a barrel if the wine is healthy? We have a brand new winery, very avant-garde, with a lot of technical tools to avoid too much manipulation. Every barrel is analysed every month. If there is a problem, we know it is just from the last month, so we can cure it.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I invented a closure called the Ardea Seal<\/strong> [made from three types of polymers, to allow for a limited flow of oxygen but avoid cork taint]. It’s perfect. But in Burgundy, very few people use it because it\u2019s plastic. To them, it\u2019s all about tradition and image. It\u2019s ridiculous. These people, they don\u2019t drive a 2CV anymore. They drive cars with ABS, with air-conditioning. But they still want a natural cork.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Back at his family domaine, Domaine Ponsot, in 2008<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In Burgundy, we have big problems in the market.<\/strong> It\u2019s so easy to sell a Bourgogne Blanc, a Bourgogne Rouge, but so difficult to sell a Chambertin Clos de B\u00e8ze. It\u2019s crazy \u2013 not so long ago, we couldn\u2019t make enough grand cru wine. But the price of grapes has reached such a crazy level, that even if I don’t want a big margin, I have to apply all the costs to a bottle, and it means that we are too expensive. Everybody is too expensive. Most grand cru Burgundy is drunk by people who know nothing about wine.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The first time I made a Montrachet, I bought the grape must for \u20ac42,000 a barrel.<\/strong> That was 15 years ago. Today it\u2019s \u20ac200,000.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I\u2019m not happy with the situation. Prices have to come down.<\/strong> I want to produce wines that people can open and enjoy. But it is the very rich [corporate] investors who shape the market. They came down to Burgundy and pay 10 times the real value of the land to ensure they get the vines \u2013 even if it takes them 100 years to pay it back. It\u2019s insane.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In France we have an inheritance tax based on the value of the land, which is based on the last relevant transaction.<\/strong> So if you own Clos de La Roche, for example, the inheritance tax is based on the recent sales of Clos de Tart or Clos des Lambrays. How can you pay the tax at that level? It\u2019s impossible. So what do the next generation do? They sell. And who is buying? The corporate investors. That\u2019s why the wines are so expensive.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
Outside the Laurent Ponsot winery, in Gilly. ‘I hate the word tradition. But I love history’ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u2018At Domaine Ponsot we were known for the grands crus, which made up 80% of the production. <\/strong>Since I started Laurent Ponsot, I enjoy having more freedom. Initially, I had one big idea \u2013 to produce everything that we can, from basic Bourgogne to grand cru. I wanted to be a bit like Champagne, where the best wines don\u2019t come from a single vineyard, but from a blend. So none of our village wines come from a single vineyard \u2013 they are all from a minimum of two plots? We use 15 plots in our Meursault.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know what they are doing today at Domaine Ponsot<\/strong> [the family domaine which he left in 2017, and is today run by his sister, Rose-Marie]. I have no link with them anymore.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018When I started my own line, I wanted to break the codes.<\/strong> I went quite far, with the NASA-type label. I knew I had to do something radical to show my thinking. I hate the word tradition, but I like the word history. And inside the bottle, you have to have a piece of history. But outside, you have to evolve the history through design, and I’m bored with old type or pictures of horses or a chateau. We\u2019re not in the Middle Ages anymore.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I\u2019m changing the design for the 2025 vintage.<\/strong> We have so many laws from the European Union, and we have to include so many things on the label. It\u2019s ridiculous, all this bureaucracy. So the new label will have all that technical information on the front, including a QR code or whatever. And on the back we will have a nice label. I am not a fan of the EU \u2013 it\u2019s worse than the Soviet Union in the old days. I love Brexit. We should do Frexit.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"
‘When I started my own line, I knew I had to do something radical to show my thinking. I went quite far, with the NASA-type label’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u2018I will be 72 this year, but I have so much energy.<\/strong> I feel I could work for another 30 years.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I used to be a hippie.<\/strong> I like community and sharing. Not only love, but many things. Inside, I am still a hippy. I want to be kind and to help everyone, to talk and exchange ideas. But I found that people are so focused on themselves, so I gave up. Human beings are not always nice.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Rudy Kurniawan [the counterfeiter found guilty of forging and selling multiples bottles of wine at auction] could not have got the money together to do what he did on his own.<\/strong> He must have had accomplices, people who were in on it. But in the US, when a witness decides to talk, they are protected. Even if they\u2019re part of the problem. I\u2019ll leave you to read between the lines\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018When I went to the sale [the Acker, Merrill & Conduit auction at which bogus vintages of Domaine Ponsot that had never been produced were among the lots] I knew being there in person would make it a bigger story.<\/strong> That\u2019s why I went. But it was also about the principle. I had to do it. The attention became too much, though. I should never have had to do that all myself. I had no support from anyone. Some of my colleagues came to the trial, but after everything was done, the only phone calls I had to thank me were from people in Bordeaux.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"
In Montreal in 1975. ‘I used to be a hippie’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u2018Auction houses will never be able to totally guarantee that the wines they\u2019re selling are genuine.<\/strong> You cannot control the provenance. And what is more important than the provenance? What is more important than the way the wine has been stored? Even the likes of Christie\u2019s and Sotheby’s, which I trust, cannot control everything. It’s impossible. I would never advise anyone to buy wine at auction. For me, they should stop selling wine.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The book<\/strong> [FBI \u2013 Fake Bottles Investigation, Ponsot\u2019s account of the case] was a way for me to put a full-stop on the story<\/strong>, and to show people that the guy who did this is not a hero. He’s a crook, a shit.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Not a 67 Pall Mall Member? Sign up to receive a monthly selection of articles from The Back Label by filling out your details below<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n