Chateau Pontet-Canet 5eme Cru Classe, Pauillac 2005

Always showing well, this bottle of 2005 Château Pontet Canet was just about pure perfection in a glass. Still youthful ruby/purple-hued, with a gorgeous core of pure cassis and darker currant fruits, it's full-bodied and has a stacked mid-palate, building tannins, and textbook Pauillac graphite, lead pencil, and subtle tobacco and cedar aromas and flavours. 

It's a big, rich, powerful 2005 with flawlessly integrated tannins, remarkable purity, and a finish that won't quit. While it's still another 5-10 years away from being completely mature, it unquestionably offers incredible pleasure today.

Drink 2021 - 2031

Possibly the youngest wine of all the 2005 Médocs in terms of its evolution, at age 10 the inky purple 2005 Pontet-Canet tastes more like a two-year-old wine. Loads of pure blueberry, blackberry and cassis fruit are present, along with a hint of liquorice and background oak. It is full-bodied, ripe, and excruciatingly fresh, vigorous and exuberant. This tour de force and a sensational effort rivalling the first growths. Give it another 5-10 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 30-40 years.

Drink 2020 - 2065

The 2005 Pontet-Canet is a heady, exotic wine. Inky dark fruit, mocha, chocolate, liquorice, spice and tobacco are front and centre. Readers will find an unabashedly opulent, full-throttle 2005 with quite a bit more oak influence and overall extraction than is the norm these days. Even so, the 2005 is a young, young wine with a bright future. This is one sexy Pauillac, that's for sure.

Drink 2025 - 2045

Rich, fruity blackcurrant nose, exuberant and pure. Very rich but not too dense, with vibrant fruit, formidable but overly chewy tannins. This has power and force, and a textured, layered finish. Very long.

Drink 2018 - 2035