2022 Pontet Canet
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Tasting Notes
This is an exceptional Pontet Canet, a very complete expression of this estate, showcasing the huge potential of this Pauillac terroir. The wine is exceptionally clean on the nose with light, lifted floral tones as well as earthy, savoury mineral notes. The tannins are silky and very fine, effortlessly building structure on the palate. It also has the key ingredient for the most successful wines of the vintage – energy and freshness. The fruit profile is distinctly black, beautifully offset by saline, gravelly, mineral tones on the finish. The flavours here are so complex, covering the entire spectrum – floral, fruit, spicy and mineral notes – but the texture and dry extract are equally impressive and balanced. Aged in 35% amphora, 50% new oak and 15% one-year-old barrels. Blend: 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
The 2022 Château Pontet-Canet is brilliant and should easily be up with the crème de la crème from the Médoc. Based on 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 4% each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it was vinified mostly in concrete (there's a small part in wood), and the aging is in 50% new French oak, 35% in amphora, and the rest in once-used barrels. It has an incredibly pure bouquet of cassis, graphite, lead pencil, and scorched earth. This carries to a full-bodied Pauillac with a deep, layered mid-palate, building tannins, and a great finish. It has the purity, richness, and structure that makes this vintage so compelling and is going to be drinkable with just 4-6 years of bottle age but have an incredibly long life.
What a finish on this Pontet-Canet. So much energy and brightness. It's full-bodied yet so tight and focused with superb fruit and transparency. It is racy and fine with super fine texture. It's like crushed cabernet sauvignon with cassis, tobacco and cigar box. Licorice and spices. Freshness of the seed. 57% cabernet sauvignon, 35% merlot, 4% cabernet franc, and 4% petit verdot.
Vivid plum colour, violet reflections, chewy tannins from the first moments. Loaded with cassis, blueberry and fresh fig fruits, laced through with rosemary, sage, dried herbs, edges of chamomile and fresh mushroom. Tight in its tannic structure, with smoked earth, cinammo, cardamom and lavender. Mathieu Bessonnet technical director, and the 47th vintage of owner Alfred Tesseron, 50% new oak, 35% amphora, 15% one year old barrels, 55 year average age of the vines. Harvest September 8 to 28, with clay used as sunscreen on the grapes to avoid sunburn, and a selection before harvest to drop any shrivelled berries.
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About the producer
Ch. Pontet-Canet is one of Pauillac’s top estates, and one of its largest at 81 hectares. Although classified as a Fifth Growth, these days it consistently competes with the First Growths