Château Pontet Canet is a prestigious winery located in the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux, France. With a rich history dating back to the early 18th century, the estate was classified as a fifth growth in the famous Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. The winery is known for its commitment to biodynamic farming practices, which results in wines of exceptional purity, elegance, and complexity.

The flagship wine of Château Pontet Canet is the Grand Vin, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot grapes aged in oak barrels for 16 to 20 months. This wine is known for its deep ruby color, complex aromas of black fruit, spices, and tobacco, and its firm tannins that give it a long and elegant finish. The winery also produces a second wine called Les Hauts de Pontet Canet, which is made from younger vines and is aged for 12 to 16 months in oak barrels. This wine is lighter and more approachable, with aromas of red fruit, spices, and vanilla.

Château Pontet Canet is a world-renowned winery that produces some of the finest wines in Bordeaux. Its commitment to biodynamic farming practices and traditional winemaking techniques has earned it a reputation for excellence and has made it a favorite among wine enthusiasts around the world.

While Justine Tesseron declined my request to taste at the property, I was able to acquire a bottle of the 2020 Pontet-Canet for review. The wine starts strong, wafting from the glass with attractive aromas of cherries, sweet berries and plum preserve mingled with lilac and licorice, but that's followed by a medium to full-bodied, firm and extracted palate that lacks the amplitude and flesh to conceal the rather drying tannins which dominate the earthy finish. It's an open secret among Bordeaux insiders that this estate—which has benefited from such significant and laudable investments and which was on such an upward trajectory through 2011—has been a perplexingly erratic performer since 2012, intermingling successful vintages with relative failures, and the 2020 only confirms that. While the 2020 isn't by any means a flawed wine, and time may well be kind to it, it doesn't transcend this estate's fifth growth status, even if this château's terroir clearly has the potential to.

Deep garnet-purple in colour, the 2016 Pontet-Canet hits the ground running with a hedonic nose of Black Forest cake, crème de cassis and blueberry pie plus suggestions of candied violets, hoisin, chocolate mint, charcuteries and forest floor with a waft of star anise. Full-bodied, rich, profoundly layered and powerfully fruited, the palate is built like a brick house, with very firm, super ripe, grainy tannins and harmonious freshness, finishing with incredible length and depth. Still incredibly primary and yet already strutting so many layers, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this warrants the three-digit score in a few years' time.

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Pontet-Canet comes charging out of the glass with fantastically expressive notes of black cherry preserves, black raspberries and blackcurrant pastilles plus touches of kirsch, wilted roses, tobacco, camphor and cinnamon stick with a waft of fragrant soil. Full bodied, the palate is laden with black and red fruit layers, supported by very firm, very finely grained tannins and provocative freshness, finishing with incredible length and stunningly perfumed.

Deep garnet with a hint of purple to the color, the 2014 Pontet-Canet gives a very serious, classic Pauillac nose of blackcurrant preserves, baked blackberries and warm black plums with suggestions of menthol, pencil lead, woodsmoke, cassia and cast-iron pan plus a hint of baking spices. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the mouth with black and blue fruit preserves with a rock-solid frame of grainy tannins and bold freshness, giving lift to the long, exotic spice-laced finish. It is approachable now, but really should start to make jaws drop in another 4-5 years.

Château Pontet Canet is a prestigious winery located in the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux, France. With a rich history dating back to the early 18th century, the estate was classified as a fifth growth in the famous Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. The winery is known for its commitment to biodynamic farming practices, which results in wines of exceptional purity, elegance, and complexity.

The flagship wine of Château Pontet Canet is the Grand Vin, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot grapes aged in oak barrels for 16 to 20 months. This wine is known for its deep ruby color, complex aromas of black fruit, spices, and tobacco, and its firm tannins that give it a long and elegant finish. The winery also produces a second wine called Les Hauts de Pontet Canet, which is made from younger vines and is aged for 12 to 16 months in oak barrels. This wine is lighter and more approachable, with aromas of red fruit, spices, and vanilla.

Château Pontet Canet is a world-renowned winery that produces some of the finest wines in Bordeaux. Its commitment to biodynamic farming practices and traditional winemaking techniques has earned it a reputation for excellence and has made it a favorite among wine enthusiasts around the world.

Château Pontet Canet is a prestigious winery located in the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux, France. With a rich history dating back to the early 18th century, the estate was classified as a fifth growth in the famous Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. The winery is known for its commitment to biodynamic farming practices, which results in wines of exceptional purity, elegance, and complexity.

The flagship wine of Château Pontet Canet is the Grand Vin, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot grapes aged in oak barrels for 16 to 20 months. This wine is known for its deep ruby color, complex aromas of black fruit, spices, and tobacco, and its firm tannins that give it a long and elegant finish. The winery also produces a second wine called Les Hauts de Pontet Canet, which is made from younger vines and is aged for 12 to 16 months in oak barrels. This wine is lighter and more approachable, with aromas of red fruit, spices, and vanilla.

Château Pontet Canet is a world-renowned winery that produces some of the finest wines in Bordeaux. Its commitment to biodynamic farming practices and traditional winemaking techniques has earned it a reputation for excellence and has made it a favorite among wine enthusiasts around the world.

The 2010 Pontet-Canet offers a very deep garnet colour. Whoa—the nose explodes with a vast array of black fruit preserves and savoury nuances: plum preserves, blackcurrant cordial, black cherry coulis and liquorice with wafts of dried lavender, melted chocolate, charcuterie, black olives, truffles, and camphor plus a hint of sandalwood. The full-bodied palate is completely filled with black fruits, exotic spices and earthy nuances with a firm foundation of ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing with epic length and depth. So much more expressive and seductive than a lot of 2010s at this stage, and yet it is still incredibly youthful!

Deep garnet in color, the 2009 Pontet-Canet slips sensuously from the glass with opulent scents of crème de cassis, baked plums and Black Forest cake plus suggestions of Chinese five spice, potpourri, oolong tea and menthol. Full-bodied, rich, spicy and oh-so-decadent in the mouth, it has a fantastically velvety frame and seamless freshness, finishing very long.

A candidate for the “wine of the vintage,” Pontet Canet’s 2008 boasts an opaque purple color as well as copious aromas of sweet blueberries, blackberries and black currant fruit intertwined with lead pencil shavings, subtle barbecue smoke and a hint of forest floor. Full-bodied, with fabulous richness, texture and tremendous freshness, this first-growth-like effort is more developed than the uber-powerful 2010. Give it 5-8 years of cellaring and drink it over the following three decades. Bravo!

The 2006 Château Pontet-Canet has an extremely pure, vivacious, perfumed bouquet with crushed violets infusing the blueberry and blackberry fruit. But it is all about the detail and precision in this wine. The palate is medium-bodied with a gentle grip in the mouth: lightly toasted black fruit, dried orange peel, cedar and a pinch of white pepper. This feels very cohesive and poised with just a touch of mint entering right on the finish. What a great wine from Alfred Tesseron and Jean-Michel Comme. Go grab the corkscrew now, but don't feel that this wine has to be opened for another 5-6 years.

Château Pontet Canet is a prestigious winery located in the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux, France. With a rich history dating back to the early 18th century, the estate was classified as a fifth growth in the famous Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. The winery is known for its commitment to biodynamic farming practices, which results in wines of exceptional purity, elegance, and complexity.

The flagship wine of Château Pontet Canet is the Grand Vin, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot grapes aged in oak barrels for 16 to 20 months. This wine is known for its deep ruby color, complex aromas of black fruit, spices, and tobacco, and its firm tannins that give it a long and elegant finish. The winery also produces a second wine called Les Hauts de Pontet Canet, which is made from younger vines and is aged for 12 to 16 months in oak barrels. This wine is lighter and more approachable, with aromas of red fruit, spices, and vanilla.

Château Pontet Canet is a world-renowned winery that produces some of the finest wines in Bordeaux. Its commitment to biodynamic farming practices and traditional winemaking techniques has earned it a reputation for excellence and has made it a favorite among wine enthusiasts around the world.

It seems clear that the 2004 Château Pontet-Canet is predestined to always fall under the shadow of the 2005. Don't overlook this gem. The bouquet delivers pure blackberry, pencil lead and tobacco notes that are more generous than the 2005 now—open for business, you might say. There is an element of dried herbs here, a hint of black tar. The palate is medium-bodied and quite sturdy in the mouth, the tannins perhaps "abrasive" when juxtaposed against the 2005, however they are couched in unexpectedly intense earthy black fruit that frame a tannic finish. If you hanker for a sumptuous Pontet-Canet, then opt for 2003 or 2009, but if your predilection is for a more "classic" Pauillac, then 2004 Pontet-Canet fits the bill. Undoubtedly a great wine from Alfred Tesseron for the vintage, I would start, broaching bottles now but keep a stash back for 4-5 years' time when those tannins have softened.

Château Pontet Canet is a prestigious winery located in the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux, France. With a rich history dating back to the early 18th century, the estate was classified as a fifth growth in the famous Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. The winery is known for its commitment to biodynamic farming practices, which results in wines of exceptional purity, elegance, and complexity.

The flagship wine of Château Pontet Canet is the Grand Vin, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot grapes aged in oak barrels for 16 to 20 months. This wine is known for its deep ruby color, complex aromas of black fruit, spices, and tobacco, and its firm tannins that give it a long and elegant finish. The winery also produces a second wine called Les Hauts de Pontet Canet, which is made from younger vines and is aged for 12 to 16 months in oak barrels. This wine is lighter and more approachable, with aromas of red fruit, spices, and vanilla.

Château Pontet Canet is a world-renowned winery that produces some of the finest wines in Bordeaux. Its commitment to biodynamic farming practices and traditional winemaking techniques has earned it a reputation for excellence and has made it a favorite among wine enthusiasts around the world.