2020 | Château Pontet-Canet | Pauillac

Aromatic black currant and spice aromas give way to a wine that has richness while having impressive balance.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2020 Pontet-Canet is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 4% Petit Verdot, aging in 50% new French oak barriques, 35% concrete amphorae and 15% in one-year-old barrels. Harvest began on the 14th September for the Merlot, and the final lot of Cabernet Sauvignon was harvested on 30th September. Opaque purple-black in color, it needs significant aeration and swirling to coax out evocative notes of black cherry preserves, raspberry pie, blackcurrant pastilles and damp soil, before launching into gorgeous floral and spice notions of red roses, cinnamon stick, star anise and cardamom, with a waft of crushed rocks. The medium to full-bodied palate reveals a lot of depth and polish, delivering mouth-coating red and black fruits with loads of fragrant earth and floral sparks, framed by velvety tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and mineral tinged.

• James Suckling: This is integrated, with superb density and beauty, offering blackcurrant, mineral and some bark. Full-bodied, yet so polished and refined. Crushed stone. Lots of expression and texture to this wine. Creamy. Pure and precise. Elegant, yet layered. Slightly plusher than the 2019. Dense, yet agile. Fresh as always. 60% cabernet sauvignon, 32% merlot, 4% cabernet franc and 4% petit verdot. 50% new oak 15% old oak and 35% concrete amphorae.

Producer Information

Château Pontet-Canet is a critically lauded wine estate located in the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux's northern Médoc region. The estate was ranked as a fifth growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification although in contemporary critical and popular circles, the estate is considered worthy of a much higher ranking. Its grand vin is a classic, structured claret of exceptional finesse, regularly achieving high scores and much in-demand worldwide. Pontet-Canet has been owned by the Tesseron family of Cognac fame since 1975, and under the family's control quality has risen greatly, along with auction prices and popularity. Pontet-Canet is Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant, and is full bodied with significant long-term cellaring potential. The 81-hectare (200-acre) vineyard is located at the heart of the Pauillac appellation, just south of châteaux Mouton Rothschild and d'Armailhac. The soil is made up of Garonne gravel on a limestone bedrock and is warm and well drained, providing perfect conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon, which accounts for 62 percent of plantings. Merlot makes up 32 percent of the rest, and there are small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot as well. Viticulture is certified organic and biodynamic and, in recent years, a team of working horses have been introduced. At harvest, grapes are picked into small crates that are transferred directly to the sorting table, keeping damage to the fruit to a minimum and allowing winemakers to keep plot and variety separate. Since 2005, the must has been fermented in modern, temperature-controlled concrete vats located directly under the sorting tables on the floor above. Grapes from each plot are vinified separately, and aged in barrel (never more than two-thirds new oak) for 16-20 months depending on the vintage. Château Pontet-Canet was founded by Jean-Francois de Pontet, royal governor of the Médoc, who combined several Pauillac vineyard plots in the 1720s. His descendants added neighboring parcels in Canet. The wine was not château-bottled until 1972. The second wine of the estate is Hauts de Pontet-Canet.

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