1997 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche, Cuvée Vieilles Vignes -- pale ruby colour, perhaps a bit lighter than anticpated for the juice of this renowned vineyard; shy nose, mainly displaying tea; light-to-medium bodied, though 13.5% alc, with very smooth, silky, cherry, black tea, bay leaf, and hints of anise in the mouth; surprisingly long, gently fading finish with mostly tea flavours at the end. All about texture. Around 88 pts. for me.

88 points for a Grand Cru, that's a bummer.
Do you think it's the vintage or the producer?

If those are my only 2 choices, ArieS, I'd say vintage; however, we had a few excellent '97s last week as well. It's not a bad vintage, and we had quite a few 1er Cru that were drinking very well.

I'd want much more than one data point before pointing a finger at the producer.

I'd be more inclined to suspect storage issues. It wasn't my bottle, but I know that it was a fairly recent purchase by my friend. It's always a crapshoot under those circumstances.