2019 Château Pontet-Canet, Grand Vin, Pauillac, Red Bordeaux, France.
I have loved Pontet-Canet since I first tried it with the 2000 vintage, and the 2001 and 2010 versions remain some of my favorite modern Bordeaux bottlings, and this 2019, not the most critically acclaimed year, is a lovely and powerful “Left Bank”wine of pedigree and class with depth, complexity and structure. If they ever reclassify the 1855 list of Bordeaux estates, Pontet-Canet would certainly merit an upgrade to first growth, as in my opinion, it is on par if not ahead of the classic five, depending on vintage. Pontet-Canet’s owners the Tesseron’s, as noted in previous reviews, have gone all biodyaminc, are using cement vats or concrete amphorae with clay/dirt that comes from the estate, and use less new wood than their neighbors to achieve a pureness and a style that allows their wines to stand out. The youthful and gripping 2019 is very dark in the glass, needing a good long decaying, showing off layers of opulence, richness and terroir detail with blackberry, dark currant, plum and black cherry fruits as well as loamy earth notes, mineral tones, licorice, sweet tobacco leaf and black olive along with crushed violet/lilac florals and cinnamony spice, finishing with toasty sandalwood/cedar, creme de cassis and subtle mineral. The tannins are firm and chewy, but they really carry on the finish and secure age worth potential here, but that said, with time and food there’s loads of pleasure here. I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy Pontet-Canet many times and it really does sit nicely with Latour, Lafitte, Mouton, Margaux and Haut-Brion, and it typically is available for much less per bottle.
AsI’ve said before, the Tesseron’s Château Pontet-Ca net is truly amongst the best wines of the world and unique, since they took over this estate in 1975 the family has led the quality of this Pauillac to it’s greatest heights, and it has always been a wine I’ve admired for it’s sense of place, power and presence. The key changes they made here in this Pauillac estate was to embrace organic and biodynamic farming, something that very few Bordeaux properties did at the time and even experiment with fermentation vessels, which eventually led to making their own clay amphoras sourced from the property itself. They now do some of primary fermentations in the clay vessels, along with old school cement vats, while aging is traditionally done in French oak barrels. As noted in my prior reviews, the make up at Château Pontet-Canet follows the actual planted vines, which is about 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, that all go into the blend here, though Cabernet Sauvignon is the main thrust and focus, and it obviously takes center stage in this Pauillac wine, much in the same way as Chateau Latour. This wine, I bought on pre-arrival, and it was nicely priced even with a lengthy wait to get it, I really should have got many more bottles, and I opened it recently, tasted it blind at a Bordeaux varietal tasting, where it clearly won out for impact and could have never been anything else, but a great Pauillac expression. I also recently was invited to taste five Napa Bordeaux varietal and Cabernet based wines, all priced between $200 and $300 and getting sky high reviews, and none could compare with Pontet-Canet, so I highly recommend this Château for its exceptional quality and value.
($175 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive