2023 Pontet Canet
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Tasting Notes
This is incredibly aromatic, with crushed blackberries, wild blueberry and juicy black plum leaping from the glass, followed by gorgeous violet and iris, faint tobacco leaf and fresh thyme. This is a Pontet-Canet with beautiful balance between concentrated bramble fruit and firm, grippy tannins that spread across the palate. With fantastic persistence and length, this wine is built for the long haul. A full degree lower in alcohol compared to 2022 (13.8% vs 14.8%), the wine is so pretty and elegant out of barrel – it will be a treat to see how it evolves. A must-have for the cellar. Blend: 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot. Aged in 50% new oak barrique, 35% in concrete amphorae and the remaining 15% in one-year-old barrels. The 2023 is also the second vintage to be bottled in a lighter bottle which took four years to develop, shaving 320g of weight off (and 32-35 tons of carbon dioxide).
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Yohan Castaing, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Blue fruits, sappy herbs, flowers, and subtle graphite notes all emerge from the 2023 Château Pontet-Canet, a medium to full-bodied, concentrated Pauillac that has plenty of mid-palate flesh and texture, ripe, polished tannins, and outstanding length. It's incredibly well-balanced, has a round, layered mouthfeel, and a brilliant sense of salinity and minerality on the finish. It's going to need just short-term cellaring, but this is a gorgeous Pauillac. The blend is 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot, from healthy yields of 55 hectoliters per hectare.
Flowers, cedar, tobacco leaf, black with red currants, and a hint of smoke create the perfume. The palate is full-bodied, ripe, round, and loaded with sweet, fresh, elegant, juicy, pure, black cherries, and blackberries. The wine is relaxed. Nothing is forced. Everything is in the right place. The tannins are long, there is sweetness, length, and nuances of black currants, chocolate, licorice, and mint that make an appearance in the lengthy finish. The wine blends 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot.13.8% ABV, pH 3.75. Harvesting took place September 7 - October 10. This is the earliest, as well as the longest harvest in the history of the estate. The success of the vintage is due to the ability to wait for maturity on a parcel-by-parcel basis. The wine is aging in a combination of 50% new, French oak barrels, and 35% Amphora.
A very structured Pontet-Canet that expands in the mouth with a gorgeous combination of beautifully ripe fruit and intense tannins. Very structured for the vintage. Full-bodied with excellent presence and length. So much raw pencil shavings to the blackcurrants. Graphite and tar. Fresh and vivid. They picked cabernet at the right time at the end of September. 52% cabernet sauvignon, 39% merlot, 6% cabernet franc and 3% petit verdot.
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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