Chateau Pontet-Canet 5eme Cru Classe, Pauillac 2011

Wild violets and black fruit nose, both exuberant and classic. It is a wonderfully elegant Pauillac with superb vineyard expression.

Once again proprietor Alfred Tesseron has produced a wine of first-growth potential. One of the superstars of the vintage, Pontet-Canet’s 2011 exhibits an opaque purple color and a glorious bouquet of incense, subtle toast and copious quantities of creme de cassis. There is a floral underpinning, decent acidity and ripe tannin to this full-bodied effort. Big, rich, round and generously endowed, it should drink well for 20-25+ years.

(60% cabernet sauvignon, 35% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot; 32 hectoliters per hectare): Deep, opaque ruby. Rich aromas of blackberry, black cherry and minerals are lifted by a perfumed minty note. Multilayered and vibrant, with compelling sweetness of black fruit cocktail, spicy vanilla and mineral flavors. Finishes with very smooth tannins, a persistent violet note and an impression of weightlessness. I love this wine's purity, but I don't know if my sample had any press wine in it.

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.