Peter Maude Fine Wines

2021, Château Pontet-Canet, PAUILLAC, 1ère Grand Cru Classé

$154 ex. GST
$177.10 inc. GST
Estimated full landed price – $194.01

Bordeaux Blend: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot

Alfred Tesseron has been making constant improvements here since the early 1990s and Pontet Canet is now one of the leading names of the Médoc. The vineyard has been organic and biodynamic for 10 years and is worked by horses.

Bright berry red in colour, nuanced blackberry and loganberry with bitter black chocolate notes from the first attack. Lovely precision, good level of spice, earthy, unfussy, rose stem and blackcurrant bud. Plenty of tannins give structure and are shot through with sinew and juice, this is an impressive wine from technical director Mathieu Bessonet, with Pauillac typicity. 95 Jane Anson.

The 2021 is the most classically Pauillac Pontet-Canet I have tasted in modern times. Medium in body, with striking aromatic presence, the 2021 screams with character. Grilled herbs, incense, leather, lavender and plum open with a bit of coaxing, all framed by beams of tannin and bright, salivating acids that give the wine shape and real sense of direction. There's a bit more Petit Verdot in this year's blend, and that comes through in the wine's intensely savoury profile. Aging is 50% in new wood, 35% in amphora and 15% in one year-old barrels. The 2021 was impressive all three times I tasted it. 93-95 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.

Offering up wild, exotic aromas of blackberries, cloves and Indian spices mingled with notions of rose petal, bruised orchard fruit and cherry pit that evolve rapidly in the glass, the 2021 Pontet-Canet is medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy, with a layered mid-palate and refined tannins that assert themselves on the firm, saline finish. Always one of the Médoc's most singular, idiosyncratic wines. 91-93 William Kelley, Wine Advocate.

Gorgeous fragrance on the nose, so perfumed and floral - really vibrant - you can smell the Cabernet and the Petit Verdot on the nose. Juiciness straight away from a burst of high acidity focussed on blackcurrant and black cherry with both a fragrance, spice and minerality following. This really hits you square on - it's not opulent but it’s so fully flavoured, forward and upfront. Tannins are fine-grained but plentiful, they hold the structure and give the frame while the creaminess and freshness gives an expansive aspect to the palate. There's refinement and an aerial quality here despite the clear Pauillac power. The Cabernet fruit is in full shine mode, giving a eucalyptus, perfumed berry and black pepper touch. Structured and supple with grape and terroir characteristics. If you love Pontet, and classic Pauillac claret, this is an impressive reference point. 95 Georgina Hindle, Decanter.

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