History

1872

Originally from St Romain in Côte d'Or, William Ponsot purchased a wine estate in Morey-St-Denis and set up home there. His major parcels of land at that time were:

Clos des Monts-Luisants
Clos de la Roche

He also cultivated fruit from other appellations, such as:

Gevrey-Chambertin Les Combottes
Charmes Chambertin.

1920

His nephew and godson, Hippolyte Ponsot, took over the Domaine after completing his career as a diplomat. With the help of his brother, Henri Ponsot, who was also a diplomat (resident consul general in Morocco and ambassador of France in several countries), Hippolyte Ponsot substantially increased the size of Clos de la Roche by purchasing ¾ of the original "Clos de la Roche" lieu-dit.

1932

He started bottling his entire harvest at the Domaine. This was very rare at the time and only a dozen or so Burgundy wine estates did so before the Second World War.

The 1934 vintage was the first to be sold in France, with sales in the United States and numerous other European countries.

1935

A lawyer by training, Hippolyte Ponsot was one of the founders of the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) classification for Burgundy wines in 1935 and 1936.

1942

Jean-Marie Ponsot, his son, farmed the vineyards and made wine in collaboration with him.

Hippolyte retired in 1957.

1960

Jean-Marie Ponsot, using the plant selections started by his father, was a pioneer of clonal selection in Burgundy in the early 1960s.

Many of the most respected clones of Pinot Noir (113, 114, 115, 667, etc.) came from the mother-stock planted in 1954 (and still in production) in our Clos de la Roche vineyards.

1961

Jean-Marie Ponsot started to farm the following parcels under a métayage agreement (returning a share of the bottled harvest to the owners of the vineyard as payment):

Chambolle-Musigny,
Chambertin,
Latricières-Chambertin.

1972

Jacqueline Ponsot Livera, his wife, added to the estate through her inheritance of the following parcels:

Gevrey Chambertin Cuvée de l’Abeille,
Chapelle Chambertin.

1975

The Domaine was incorporated as a landholding company with Jean-Marie Ponsot, Jacqueline Ponsot Livera, Abbot Denis Ponsot and Marie-Antoinette Ponsot as principals.

1981

Laurent Ponsot started working with his father Jean-Marie on the family estate and became its manager together with his sister Rose-Marie Ponsot.

He set up a new sales system, diversifying the sale of all bottled production to 44 countries. He farms the vineyards and makes wine with an emphasis on total authenticity.

1982

Addition of several parcels from the Domaine des Chezeaux under a métayage agreement:

Griotte Chambertin, grand cru AOC, red.
Chambertin, grand cru AOC, red.
Clos St Denis Cuvée Vieilles Vignes, grand cru AOC, red.
Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes, premier cru AOC, red.

1989

Domaine Ponsot was filed as a registered trademark.

1997

Laurent Ponsot and his sister Rose-Marie took over the management of the estate. Laurent was responsible for the day to day running of the domaine for almost 20 years.

2017

Laurent Ponsot stepped down from the estate to concentrate on personal ventures. Rose-Marie Ponsot became the sole Director of the company, seconded by Alexandre Abel.

Jean-Marie Ponsot died in April 2017.

Today, the estate continues to be an entirely family-run business, its various entities being owned by Laurent, Rose-Marie, Catherine and Stéphanie Ponsot.