Cropped at nine hectoliters per hectare, Ponsot's 2021 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes unwinds in the glass with aromas of raspberries, plums, exotic spices, candied peel, raw cocoa and forest floor. Full-bodied, broad and textural, it's concentrated and multidimensional, with a suave, supple, seamless profile and a long, saline finish.

The 2020 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes is brooding and powerful, unwinding in the glass with aromas of dark berries and cassis mingled with sweet spices, licorice, smoke and orange rind. Full-bodied, deep and muscular, with a broad attack that segues into a sweet core of fruit framed by ample reserves of rich, powdery tannins and lively acids, it concludes with a long, resonant finish. Predictably backward, this will require over a decade's patience.

Ponsot's 2019 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes was picked in multiple passages, beginning with earlier-ripening massale selections on September 17, followed by the rest of the domaine's holdings on September 22–23. Wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet raspberries and plums mingled with licorice, peony and cinnamon, it's full-bodied, fleshy and seamless, with a rich core of fruit, lively acids and a long, saline finish. This is aging gracefully and underlines the additional precision Alex Abel has brought to Ponsot's winemaking in recent years.

Ponsot's 2018 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes was only bottled in July 2020, and its extended élevage has really refined the wine. Opening in the glass with aromas of dark berries, cherries and plums mingled with dark chocolate, preserved citrus peel, woodsmoke and spices, it's full-bodied, concentrated and powerful, with real depth and mid-palate amplitude, its rich, powdery tannins largely concealed in a generous core of fruit. This is a muscular wine somewhat reminiscent of a more gourmand version of the domaine's 2005, and it will demand patience.

The 2017 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru Cuvée Vieilles Vignes is also showing very well from bottle, unfurling in the glass with a deep bouquet of sweet red berries, plums and cassis, complemented by sweet soil tones and lifted top notes of orange rind and peonies. Full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, it's deep and concentrated, its velvety tannins and succulent acids cloaked in an ample core of fruit. This is a brilliant wine from Domaine Ponsot.