Domaine Ponsot Morey Saint Denis Cuvee des Alouettes Premier Cru 2018

I was excited to learn that this is sourced from the Mont Luisants Premier Cru, directly above their Grand Cru holdings of Clos de la Roche. In fact, there isn't even a road that separates the classification. One row goes into their Clos de la Roche and sells for $400+ a bottle and the adjacent row goes into this bottle, yes, really! The wine itself tastes grand, with regal tannins and superb concentration, actually a staggering level of ripeness and concentration for a wine of this level. This punches well above its weight and is a wine that in a blind tasting will crush most grand crus.

There is a tiny bit of reduction here but underneath there is so much going on - make sure to decant this wine and the reduction will quickly dissipate. The winery worked very hard in this warm vintage to not over-extract and keep the freshness - this is one for the ages - an unexpected early vintage. Starting in this vintage, everything was destemmed at the Domainewith a brand new and more gentle de-stemmer, and the berries are fermented whole berry.