So, some friends of mine in Europe have uncovered and oddball stash of wine. Most of it isn’t particularly interesting, but there’s one bottle I can’t figure out at all. It’s a bottle from 1966 bottled by F. Ponsot. As you can see, the weird part is that while it clearly says “Negociant a Beaune - Cote d’Or” in the fine print, it’s a Chateauneuf-du-Pape. WTF? Anyone have any idea about this? Not sure about the provenance at all.
Picture below.
That’s a 1966 Remoissenet Chambertin 
Let’s start with just the producer: Anybody know anything about F. Ponsot? How is that related (or is it?) to the current Domaine Ponsot?
It doesn’t appear to be a predecessor to Domaine Ponsot, based on the Wikipedia entry, since none of Laurent’s ancestors appear to have had names beginning with F.
It’s not unheard of for negotiants to bottle wines from outside their home regions. Georges Deboeuf of Beaujolais fame bottled Cote Rotie for a while, and Eric Texier, who is best known for his Northern and Southern Rhones, is based in the Charnay-en-Beaujolais, north of Lyon. I dimly recall that some negotiants in Beaune bottled Rhones in the past, too.
Agree that it isn’t unheard of for this to happen, but it is pretty unusual. There are just two entries in CT for an “F. Ponsot”, both Burgundies. Any entries I can find via Google appear to indicate a Burgundy-centric negociant. It’s hard to believe the producer bears no relationship to the current domain at all, but I sure can’t find what the actual connection really is.
Couple that with the fact that this is not Burgundy, and this is quite a strange find. Not necessarily great, but strange.
I actually wonder if Ray Walker might know something. Maybe I’ll e-mail him.
be kinda funny if ray responded back to you quickly.
Rudy was emphasizing ripeness on this cuvée. Went a little overboard.
Technical foul!
A négoce is a négoce - nobody said one in Beaune could only buy Burgundy - Beaujolais, Rhône, it’s all the same isn’t it?
But seriously, I’ve seen other négoce with Rhône - it’s not that common, but it happens. The last one I saw was Mischief and Mayhem in Aloxe with their own-label 2007 Chateau Neuf du Pape.
Roumier has bottled a CDP.
So I’m gathering on all of WineBerserkers, nobody knows Jack about F. Ponsot? I would have thought someone might have heard something…
Over that last half-dozen years, have seen bottles of F.Ponsot at various auctions. Not apparently anything to do with the Morey Domaine.