2012-CHÂTEAU-PONTET-CANET-5ème-Cru-Classé-Pauillac

CHÂTEAU PONTET CANET

2011 5ème Cru Classé Pauillac

Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
District Left Bank
Sub-district Haut Médoc
Village Pauillac
Classification 5ème Cru Classé
ABV 13.5%

Deep but not black colour, ruby red. Quite a blocky, broad rich Cabernet style. Ripe with slightly piquant tannins. It seems to lack a bit of real grip, density and drive. And juice too. There are some fruity tannins which will release more flavour, it is big and 'real', but it is also quite loose-textured, knitted with coarse wool rather than tightly woven with silk as in the previous three vintages. Rating: 92 L&S (Apr 2012)


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The 2011 Pontet Canet has a well-defined bouquet with brambly red fruit, tar and tobacco, classic in style, maybe just missing a little flair? The palate is sweet and rounded in texture, quite extractive with mulberry and gamey notes, fairly bretty towards the almost Rhône-like finish. This is difficult to fathom out, not an unenjoyable wine for sure, yet it is missing typicité. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting. Drinking range: 2022 - 2032 Rating: 89 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2022)

A lighter-framed vintage than the 2010, and you see it even in the colour of the wine, that is still young but has a trace of rose-pink around the edging. Love the aromatics of smoke, chamomile, and fragrant violet. Touches of russet, autumn-tinged leaf alongside earthy red cherry and raspberry. This is a good choice for drinking now, but it will age because there are plenty of finely placed and integrated tannins. I gave this 95 points last time I tasted this in February 2021, and it is easily one of my favourite 2011s but there is austerity here. Harvest September 15 to 29, with a little more Merlot in the blend than is usual after a dry but not overly hot summer followed by a tricky harvest. 90% of the crop went into this wine, far higher than the first wine of many classifieds in the vintage. Drinking range: 2021 - 2042 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (Oct 2021)

A lighter-framed vintage than the 2010, and you see it even in the colour of the wine, that is still young but has a trace of rose-pink around the edging. Love the aromatics of smoke, chamomile, and fragrant violet. Touches of russet, autumn-tinged leaf alongside earthy red cherry and raspberry. This is a good choice for drinking now, but it will age because there are plenty of finely placed and integrated tannins. I gave this 95 points last time I tasted this in February 2021, and it is easily one of my favourite 2011s but there is austerity here. Harvest September 15 to 29, with a little more Merlot in the blend than is usual after a dry but not overly hot summer followed by a tricky harvest. 90% of the crop went into this wine, far higher than the first wine of many classifieds in the vintage. Drinking range: 2021 - 2042 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, Decanter (Oct 2021)

Château Pontet Canet

Pauillac Cinquième cru 1855 Such is the speed with which Pontet-Canet's star has risen of recent that it could almost feel as if it's a new estate bursting on to the scene. But it has a long history, in keeping with its noble neighbours, but a long history of under-achievement, a moniker it has only just shaken off. During the 18th Century, Jean-François de Pontet, and his descendants, built up a very healthy portfolio of vineyard in the Médoc. Those that they owned in St Julien were, eventually, disposed of but the large estate that they assembled in Pauillac was retained and has resisted the fragmentation that afflicted so many Médoc estates over the years. Consequently, at 80ha of vines in a 120ha estate, Pontet-Canet is one of the largest Cru Classé estates. By the time of the 1855 classification, despite being the neighbour of Mouton-Rothschild and Lafite, Pontet-Canet could "only" scrape 5th Growth status. Herman Cruse bought the run down estate in 1865 and, initially, put in the neccessary investment to realise the vineyard's potential. But, by the mid-20th Century, Pontet-Canet's production was mediocre at best. Salvation came when the Cruse family, beset with scandal, were forced to sell Pontet-Canet to a Cognac shipper Guy Tesseron in 1975. He, with his son Alfred, have, at last, allowed Pontet-Canet to blossom. It has taken a lot of work, a lot of investment, and a lot of time to perform the miracle but, since the mid-1990's, Pontet-Canet has produced wines of immense quality and longevity, much loved by Robert Parker and far exceeding 5th Growth status. Lying on a wide plateau of poor gravel soils, with Mouton Rothschild and d'Armailhac immediately to the north and the Carruades de Lafite vineyard to the west, Pontet-Canet is planted to 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically, the first classed growth vineyard in the Médoc to do so. In keeping with that, they have eschewed tractors in favour of horses, who's hooves are kinder to the soil than tractor tyres. The Grand Vin spends 16 to 20 months in wood, of which 60% typically is new. There is a second wine - Les Hauts de Pontet Canet.

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