Corton Cuvée du Bourdon, Domaine Ponsot 2009

The 2009 Corton-Cuvee de Bourdon is a freakish, dark wine endowed with loads of jammy fruit, white flowers, licorice and spices. It is a sumptuous, even extreme wine that is not typical of either Corton or Pinot, but that inhabits its own world and does so magnificently. It is a fabulous wine in every way. This is the first vintage for the Cuvee de Bourdon (bumblebee), one of four new Grand Crus in the Ponsot range this year. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029.

Even with the presence of relatively strong reduction, it's clear that the underlying fruit is ripe with intensely earthy, concentrated and overtly powerful broad-shouldered flavors that pack plenty of density on the mid-palate, all wrapped in a robust, balanced and impressively persistent finish. This is a big but balanced effort.