In vino veritas. This is how we could summarize part of the life of Laurent Ponsot. “In wine, the truth”, this is the meaning of this famous Latin phrase which reflects his journey well: a thirst for truth, a quest to defend wine.
Laurent Ponsot was born in Morey-Saint-Denis in Burgundy, above a cellar as he likes to recall. Very early on, he became interested in wine. Before returning to his native village, the Burgundian traveled many countries as the owner of a travel agency. Then, around his thirties, his passion for wine and the Burgundian terroir led him to take over the family estate. A wise decision which allowed him to double the annual production of bottles, but above all to export the family wines throughout the world. Particularly in the United States. There, Burgundy wines have been able to seduce new palates, to the point of forming very select amateur clubs.
No matter the bottle…
So when he checked his emails one morning in April 2008 at his estate in Morey-Saint-Denis, Laurent Ponsot was not surprised to receive a message from across the Atlantic. It’s not the recipient who intrigues him either. He knows this New York lawyer well, ready to spend a fortune in Burgundy. No, it’s rather her question that surprises him: “How long have you been producing Clos Saint-Denis?” “. Instead of answering him directly, the winegrower questions him in turn: “Why are you asking me that? “. The New York lawyer quickly replied that he had to attend an auction the next day and that several Clos Saint-Denis wines produced by Laurent Ponsot would be put up for sale. The vintages 1945, 1949, 1959, 1962, 1966 and 1971. Impossible because the winemaker has only been producing this appellation since 1982.
Very intrigued, Laurent Ponsot first quickly contacted the New York auction house to understand where what he still considers to be “an error” came from. Dissatisfied with the auctioneer’s answers, he decides to go to New York. While there, he attends the auction where his supposed wines are presented for auction. At the last moment, the bottles that were to be sold for half a million dollars were finally withdrawn from sale. Even more intrigued, the Burgundian winemaker asks who put these bottles on sale. We talk to him about a man who calls himself “Dr Conti” (like the Burgundian grand cru Romanée Conti).
This is how Laurent Ponsot’s investigation begins, which he recounts in his book “Fausses Bouteilles Investigation” published by Michel Lafon. He turns into a detective and even works for the FBI with one goal: to try to unmask the greatest forger in the history of wine.
Want to know the rest of the story? Watch the video at the top of this article.