Château Pontet-Canet 2019

Special Price $114.85 Average US Price $146.00
In Stock   Usually ships in 2-5 days, weather permitting
SKU
4537-2019
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• Domaine: Château Pontet Canet
• Appellation: Pauillac
• Classification: Fifth Growth, 5ème Grand Cru Classé
• Origin: Left Bank, Bordeaux, France

Many estates in Bordeaux have no qualms embracing the most cutting-edge viticultural technology to improve their chances at producing quality wines.  From cryogenic extraction to hail cannons, countless Classified Growths use these sophisticated instruments and constantly look toward the future. At Château Pontet-Canet, they often look to practices of the past both in the vineyards and the vat room.  The results speak for themselves.  Without a doubt, Château Pontet-Canet has experienced a meteoric rise in demand, producing knockout wines of astounding quality vintage after vintage. 

Château Pontet-Canet is a Pauillac estate with origins dating back to the 18th Century. It derives its namesake from the owner, Jean Francois de Pontet, who expanded the vineyard holdings by purchasing new property around the estate.  Several years after his death, his descendants acquired newer plots of land including some in the Canet area and thus, it was aptly named Château Pontet-Canet.  Once the vineyard was fully established, it was one of the largest estates in the Médoc.  Château Pontet-Canet was classified as a Fifth Growth in 1855 and acquired by the Cruse family who owned the estate for 110 years.  By 1975, the vineyards had fallen into a state of disrepair.  The Cruse family sold it to the Tesseron family, a well-known name in the Bordeaux Wine Trade.  They were faced with the momentous task of bringing the vines of Pontet-Canet to its former glory. It was a task perfectly fit for the legendary figure Alfred Tesseron.

Since the Tesseron family took over the estate, they implemented radical changes.  Alfred Tesseron does not view himself as a winemaker, he views himself as a farmer.  Because of this, the majority of the work at Château Pontet-Canet is about cultivating the best fruit possible and creating wines people want to drink, not taste. Tesseron partnered with Jean Michel Comme, who introduced him to biodynamic viticulture.  With commitment and determination, the entire estate was certified biodynamic.  Today, everything is done by hand at Château Pontet Canet, and no electricity is used during picking or sorting whatsoever.  There is a very firm ethos here based on the idea that less is more - and it definitely shows.  Donkeys and Cows are on the property to cultivate organic fertilizer and the fields are ploughed by horses (who occasionally eat the grapes.)

In the Vat Room, there are no computers surveying the fermentation process or electronic devices pumping the wines.  Instead, it is a gravity flow operation with members of the Pontet-Canet team surveying the fermentations that occur, 24 hours a day.  The wines are aged in a mixture of French Oak barrels and special amphorae that are created from the same limestone in the soil of the vineyards, reintegrating the wine with the terroir it came from.  The results are powerful, friendly, and charming wines that are meant to be enjoyed, appreciated, and laid down to age.

Tasting Notes

The 2019 Pontet-Canet is plush, dense and explosive, with tremendous richness and pure, soaring intensity that strengthens in all directions with time in the glass. A wine of gravitas, the 2019 is statuesque in build. As always, Pontet-Canet offers a very personal, idiosyncratic expression of Pauillac. A range of lifted floral and savory notes ring out on the finish.

The 2019 is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, harvested between September 23 and October 10, which is a typical time frame for the estate. Yields came in a 33 hectoliters per hectare, more or less the historical average these days. For the first time, all sorting and destemming were done by hand and the wine was vinified only with manual punchdowns (i.e. no pumpovers), without any motorized equipment. Cuvaison was around 21 days, after which the wine was taken off the skins for the malolactic fermentation (which was done in the fermentation vats), and then racked into barrels and concrete for aging - 50% new oak, 35% amphora and 15% once-used barrels. Sadly, 2019 is the last vintage at Pontet-Canet for long-time Technical Director Jean-Michel Comme, who left after 31 years to focus on his own projects. He is succeeded by Mathieu Bessonnet, formerly at Chapoutier." - Antonio Galloni, Vinous (June 2020), Ratings: 95-97

"With more classic balance, the 2019 reminds me of the 2016 but perhaps in a lower key. It is vinous, opulent and very nicely structured. Tertiary tobacco and ripe fruit all around, with bright juiciness. The tannins approach 2016 style with silky refinement, and the blend has the most Petit Verdot of all tasted in the vertical, at 5%, perhaps lending slightly spicier tones. An exciting wine! Aged 50% new oak, 35% amphora." - Decanter (9/16/2021), Ratings: 97, Drink: 2025-2070

"The blend this year is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Very deep purple-black colored, the 2019 Pontet-Canet has the most gorgeous, lifted perfume of lilacs, dark chocolate, Morello cherries and rosehip tea over a core of crème de cassis, plum preserves, licorice and woodsmoke with a waft of fragrant soil. Full-bodied, rich and fantastically opulent, the palate offers layer upon layer of ripe, finely grained tannins and seamless freshness, finishing very long and mineral laced. A real head-turner, this beauty is absolutely going to steal your heart!" - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate (5/29/2019), Ratings: 98-100


More Information
Stock Status In Stock
Appellation Pauillac
Vintage 2019
Brand Chateau Pontet-Canet
Shipping Weight 3.000000

 

Pauillac is best known as the appellation that produces 3 of the 5 First Growths estates in Bordeaux. Blessed by an exceptional terroir, Pauillac is located in the northern part of the Médoc peninsula, on the Left Bank along the Gironde estuary, an ideal placement contributing to moderating the climate and providing optimal conditions for wine cultivation. Pauillac is bordered by two other prestigious wine appellations: Saint-Estèphe to the north and Saint-Julien to the south.

Pauillac's terroir, characterized by gravelly soils, is often considered one of the finest for the production of Cabernet Sauvignon, the predominant grape in Pauillac’s blends. The gravel helps with drainage and reflects heat, encouraging ripening and concentration of flavors in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec grapes. Such exceptional predispositions explain that Pauillac is home to some of Bordeaux's most renowned and iconic wine estates. They include First Growths estates such as Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Mouton Rothschild, and Château Latour. Other famous estates include Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, Château Pichon-Lalande, Château Duhart-Milon, Château Pontet-Canet, Château Batailley, Château Lynch Bages, Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Château Grand-Puy Ducasse, Château Haut-Batailley, Château Lynch-Moussas, Château d'Armailhac, Château Haut-Bages Liberal, Château Pedesclaux, Château Clerc Milon, Château Croizet-Bages.

Pauillac wines are known for their deep color, complex aromas, and rich, full-bodied flavors, including notes of cassis, blackcurrant, cedar, tobacco, and graphite, with a pronounced tannic structure, which require several years or even decades of bottle aging to reveal their full potential. 

Footnotes on Futures, Pre-Arrivals, and potential US Tariffs: 

1. As of June 15, 2021, the US and the EU agreed to suspend tariffs resulting from the Boeing-Airbus aircraft trade disputes. Accordingly, such import taxes are now suspended for the next five years.

2. Futures are expected to be available for delivery two years after the sales (e.g., the 2022 vintage, sold in 2023, will be delivered in 2025 mostly, or 2026 if the producer ages the wine longer).

3. Pre-Arrivals are items currently stored in our Bordeaux cellar or in transit from France to the US. It usually takes 1-6 months for Pre-Arrivals to become available for delivery, depending on the stage of the import process.

4. Regarding futures and pre-arrivals, we cannot guarantee specific delivery dates, which factors beyond our control may impact. However, we will notify you once your wine arrives in our cellar.

5. While a buyer of Bordeaux wine futures locks in an allocation of the specified items, the final delivery of the purchased items from France to the US may be impacted by intervening and unforeseeable events. Despite our due diligence, additional costs or delays may be caused by such intervening and unforeseen events and "an irresistible, superhuman cause, or by the act of public enemies of the state of California or the United States."  In such circumstances, if a buyer does not accept unforeseeable costs or delays, the sole and exclusive remedy is a cancellation of the futures order concerned and a refund of the original purchase price. We are NOT liable for any lost profits on a canceled order.

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