Chateau Pontet-Canet 5eme Cru Classe, Pauillac 2012

A wine that makes you want to drink it already. It's stylish with berries, currants, cedar and stone aromas and flavours. Full body, with very integrated tannins and a long, long finish. A small percentage of the wine is now aged in cement vats instead of oak barrels. This touches all the senses. It's a beauty. Made from biodynamic grapes.

What an expressive nose! Plump, fruit-driven, juicy cherry, blackberry, ripe cassis and rose stem. The opposite of the 2011, this is round and suave, albeit with not quite as long a finish. A juicy, bright palate with high alcohol and full body, some oak-derived coffee tones, with burgeoning touches of earth. The first vintage with 35% ageing in concrete amphorae.

Drink 2021 - 2045

Deep garnet in color, the 2012 Pontet-Canet gives up a profound earthy/savory nose, revealing notes of tilled soil, woodsmoke, mossy tree bark, fungi and bouquet garni with a core of raspberry preserves, boysenberries and dried cherries plus a hint of warm cassis. Medium-bodied, it has a firm grainy texture and a softly spoken, savory character in the mouth, finishing with lingering oolong tea and dried herbs notes.

Drink 2020 - 2041

A wine of real class, pedigree and distinction, the 2012 Pontet-Canet is absolutely gorgeous. The flavours are beautifully nuanced and delineated throughout. Bright floral notes add lift and sensuality. The 2012 is decidedly understated next to some other recent vintages, but the magic of this site simply won't be denied. This is another sublime wine from proprietor Alfred Tesseron.

Drink 2018 - 2032

Fresh and lively aromatically, with spring flowers, sappy herbs, licorice, currant bud and earth, the 2012 is medium to full-bodied, tight, closed and focused, with fine, grippy tannin and a rock-solid finish. It lacks a touch of density and exuberance but is an elegant, lengthy 2012 that needs 3-4 years of cellaring and will keep through 2032.

Drink 2019 - 2032

65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.

Deep purple-ruby. Perfumed nose of violet and ripe blackberry jam. Smooth, rich and almost sweet on entry, then increasingly austere, with the sweet cassis and delicate herbal flavours overshadowed by rising, raw tannins. I detected a slightly green quality on the long finish. Though this wine lacks the amazingly sweet flesh of the '09 and '10 wines and the classic elegance of the '08, I like its precision. Alfred Tesseron told me the estate picked late, on October 4, to offer the grapes a greater chance of reaching suitable ripeness, but they harvested quickly, using an extra sorting table.