Pontet Canet 2019

robert_parker100

Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown

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!

robert_parker93

Reviewed by: William Kelley

The 2019 Pontet-Canet offers up an expressive bouquet of plummy fruit, kirsch, dried herbs and peonies. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ample and seamless, with melting tannins, succulent acids, and a long, liqueured finish. Tasted twice, it's a wine I find somewhat perplexing: in a blind tasting, I might be more inclined to place it in Gigondas than Pauillac. I'm far from dogmatic when it comes to what the French call "typicité," and stylistic diversity surely enriches every appellation; but by the same token, I'm not convinced that this is the most compelling aesthetic that a Cabernet-based blend from this part of Bordeaux can realize. Checking in at 13.7% alcohol, some 35% of the production was matured in amphorae, which no doubt contributes to the wine's idiosyncratic identity.

vinous96

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

The 2019 Pontet-Canet was so effusive and generous en primeur. Today, though, it is quite reticent. That won't be an issue for those who can be patient, but patience indeed will be the key here. Dark red fleshed fruit, tobacco, cedar, spice, kirsch, mint and blood orange gradually open with a bit of coaxing. Imposing tannins wrap it all together. The 2019 is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty, but it needs time.

vinous97

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

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.

vinous92

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2019 Pontet-Canet is the outlier in the flight with its arresting exotic blueberry, cassis and mulberry scents. It is attractive, seductive even, yet it is cut from a totally different cloth to other wines in the flight of Pauillacs. The palate steers it back towards Bordeaux, albeit not all the way. Grainy tannins, mulberry and game, almost Syrah-like in style. Quite powerful, this has a chewy finish with some dry tannins. Perplexing. Fascinating. Sui generis. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

vinous94

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2019 Pontet Canet was picked from September 23 until October 10, finishing with the Petit Verdot, and bottled in mid-June/July. My sample, tasted at the property, was decanted. Matured in 50% new oak and 35% concrete amphora, this is endowed with an intense, enveloping bouquet of opulent blackberry and boysenberry fruit laced with crushed violet and light fig aromas, becoming more floral with aeration and revealing crushed violet petals. The palate is medium-bodied with layered black fruit, cracked black pepper, hints of pencil lead and a splash of soy. This is one of the most powerful Pauillac wines that I encountered this vintage, very juicy and with plenty of rondeur on the very spicy finish. This should give three decades of drinking pleasure.