Pontet Canet

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Our Pontet Canet wines					Parker Score hover or click for more
Wine	Vintage	Case size	Price/case	Cases	Parker Score hover or click for more
Pontet Canet	2003	12×75cl	£840	10	95
One cannot say enough about the labors of proprietor Alfred Tesseron, who has personally overseen the dramatic increase in quality of the wines at Pontet-Canet which started in a significant manner with 1994. This is a classic Pauillac-styled wine (meaning oodles of cassis flavors), as one might expect from a vineyard on the plateau of Pauillac, across the street from Mouton-Rothschild. One of the great successes of the vintage and certainly one of the most profound Pontet-Canets made over the last decade is the 2003. Deep purple to the rim with a glorious nose of scorched earth, black currant jam, smoke, licorice, and roasted meats, it is full-bodied, incredibly powerful, dense, with low acidity but high tannin, broad-shouldered, and savory. This is a stunning, pure, classic Pontet-Canet that should be at its best between 2010 and 2035.
Pontet Canet	2008	6×75cl	£395	20	96
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!
Pontet Canet	2009	12×75cl	£1,750	10	100
An amazing wine in every sense, this classic, full-bodied Pauillac is the quintessential Pontet Canet from proprietor Alfred Tesseron, who continues to reduce yields and farms his vineyards biodynamically – a rarity in Bordeaux. Black as a moonless night, the 2009 Pontet Canet offers up notes of incense, graphite, smoke, licorice, creme de cassis and blackberries. A wine of irrefutable purity, laser-like precision, colossal weight and richness, and sensational freshness, this is a tour de force in winemaking that is capable of lasting 50 or more years. The tannins are elevated, but they are sweet and beautifully integrated as are the acidity, wood and alcohol (which must be in excess of 14%). This vineyard, which is situated on the high plateau of Pauillac adjacent to Mouton Rothschild, appears to have done everything perfectly in 2009. This cuvee should shut down in the cellar and re-open in a decade or more. Anticipated maturity: 2025-2075.
Pontet Canet	2010	12×75cl	£1,300	5	96-100
RP: 96-100 2010: Pontet-Canet’s 2010 harvest took place between September 29 and October 17 (this vineyard is one of the few in Bordeaux that is fully certified as biodynamic) and the final blend was 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot that achieved nearly 15% natural alcohol. A remarkable, full-bodied effort (as was the estate’s 2009 and 2008), like so many recent vintages from proprietor Alfred Tesseron, it is of first-growth quality (some may even argue that it eclipses several first-growths). Dense purple to the rim, it offers classic notes of creme de cassis, graphite, subtle smoke and spring flowers. Multidimensional with massive concentration as well as vivid purity, precision and freshness, this is another astonishing effort from an obsessive/compulsive proprietor who is doing everything right. On the downside, this 2010 will require a decade of cellaring and should evolve for 50+ years. It will be fascinating to drink it side by side with the 2009 and 2008. JR: 17.5 Dense, rich and minty on the nose with real density. Lots of luscious chew. This is clearly from a great vintage with huge vivacity. Heavy undertow. Long. Minerals and firm. Racy. Decanter: 18.5 Dense colour and pure Cabernet blackcurrant fruit beautifully extracted with great length and perfect harmony, great purity of expression, exuberant yet restrained, great future. Drink 2016-30. Neil Martin: 93-95 The Pontet Canet has a very pure bouquet that you could almost compare to a Burgundy. Blackberry, dark cherries, a touch of mint and graphite, exceptionally well defined, flowering with 3-4 minutes in the glass. The palate is full-bodied with very fine but firm, tensile tannins, perhaps even more purity than the 2009, not a million miles away (both geographically and stylistically) from Mouton-Rothschild. The finish is very smooth with a sorbet-like freshness, firm grip, long in the mouth towards the finish with some crème de cassis and blueberry towards the finish. The Merlot content lends this a little more opulence than some of the other Pauillac 2010s. There is a lot of volume to this wine, really fills the mouth with a sweet, sensual finish, but keep find myself yearning for more Cabernet Sauvignon . Drink 2020-2050. Tasted March 2011
Pontet CanetEP	2011	12×75cl	£715	4	93-95
Once again proprietor Alfred Tesseron has produced a wine of first-growth potential. One of the superstars of the vintage, Pontet-Canet’s 2011 exhibits an opaque purple color and a glorious bouquet of incense, subtle toast and copious quantities of creme de cassis. There is a floral underpinning, decent acidity and ripe tannin to this full-bodied effort. Big, rich, round and generously endowed, it should drink well for 20-25+ years.
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Château Pontet-Canet

One of Pauillac’s grand estates whose origins go back to 1725 after its acquisition by Jean-François Pontet, then Royal Governer of the Medoc, who gave his name to the estate. In this time that many chateau owners underwent a period of renovation and enlargement of their estates, which here was achieved through the acquisition of vineyards in Pauillac. It was a little later, following the death of the Governer that his descendents acquired further vineyard land, which included a prized plot from a vineyard area known as Canet.

It was a century on that this work was to bear fruit in an apparent qualification of the chateau’s dedication through its inclusion in the famous 1855 Classification. Ten years later, its reputation was to underpin a change of hands by way of Herman Cruse, an important Bordeaux négociant, who bought the chateau and initiated the modernization of its production facilities, while taking it to world markets and it was in this time that the reputation of Pontet-Canet grew around the world.

Pontet-Canet remained with the Cruse family for 110 years and chateau-bottling was introduced in 1972. Then, in 1975, it was bought by another négociant-shipper, this time from Cognac, in the form of Guy Tesseron a famous producer of the eponymous brand. The Tesserons are credited as having, within a generation, re-structured the entire vineyard and upgraded its cellar and installations.

The Tesserons, a new initiative for Bordeaux

Guy Tesseron’s two sons Alfred and Gerard, took the helm in 1994 taking the family project on to new heights. Today, Pontet-Canet is one of the most sought-after wines of Bordeaux, punching well above its 5^th growth weight and consistently rated by critics alongside its 1^st and 2^nd growth peers. It is in the vineyard, perhaps, where the Tesserons have most made their mark in Bordeaux.

The estate adopted an entirely organic approach to their vines that has developed into a considerably more holistic approach through the application of biodynamic principals. A practise based on the pre-Green Revolution theories of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and esotericist. These practices are based upon the dualities of dynamising soil and vine while tending the vineyard in accordance with cosmic cycles. Whereas modern science has yet to substantiate this practice it has, nonetheless, produced impressive results in the wine world, as Pontet-Canet itself testifies.

Vineyards and ageing

Pontet-Canet’s 80Ha/198 acres of vineyards are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon 63%, Merlot 32% and Cabernet Franc 5%. The Grand Vin sees 16 months in new oak casks while the second wine spends 12 months in second year oak.

Style

Pontet-Canet wines are powerful clarets, characterized by their balance and elegant tannic strength and perfumed aroma of forest fruits and tobacco.

Top rated vintages

Vintage	RP	JR	Market price £	£ / Parker points
2010	96-100	17.5
2009	97-100	18	1,200	12
2008	96	17	890	9.27
2005	96	18	885	9.22
2006	95	16.5	730	7.68
2003	95	16.5	795	8.37
2000	94	17.5	845	8.99
2007	91-94	16.5	535	5.69
1996	92	17.5	700	7.62

As per June 2011

Market

Liv-ex Power 100 ranking:

2010	total score	2009	move
12	166	24	+12

Liv-ex Power 100 is a list of the top performers over the previous year and their position starting the current year. The index traces the movement of chateaux and other wines using a sophisticated weighting system based on average prices, production, notional availability and Parker Points.

Release price evolution

vintage	ex negociant € / btl	London release price £ / cs
2009	72	1,000
2008	43	540
2007	43	415
2006	43	395
2005	47	480

Pontet-Canet at a glance

Commune: Pauillac

Soils: Gravel and sand, with iron and clay deposits and limestone in parts alongside more clay increase, ample water and good drainage

Climate: Maritime, moderated by the Gironde estuary and Atlantic Ocean, pine forests provide insulation from strong winds off the ocean and help to lessen summer temperatures

District: Medoc

Classification: 5ème Cru Classé.

Owner: Alfred and Gerard Tesseron

Wine-maker: Alfred Tesseron

Vineyard: 80Ha / 198 acres

Production: Pontet-Canet 20,000 cases, Les Haut de Pontet 20,000

Wines: Pontet-Canet, Les Haut de Pontet (since 1982)

Other properties: Château Lafon-Rochet in St-Estephe

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