2011 Pontet Canet

We liked this very much - in fact it was one of our wines of the vintage. Dark raspberry and floral characters, lifted perfumes - really beautiful to smell. Silky texture, beautifully balanced with plenty of sweet fruit, good toasty characters and a great pure finish. Evidence that really good wines can be made in 2011 - really, really good wines.

Proprietor Alfred Tesseron-s 2011 Pontet-Canet is packaged in an engraved, heavy bottle, which only adds to the attractiveness of this beauty. A dense purple color is accompanied by notes of forest floor, acacia flowers and creme de cassis in this full, rich, and unequivocally classic Pauillac. With soft but noticeable tannins as well as a complete, full-bodied mouthfeel, this 2011 will benefit from 3-4 years of cellaring, and should age effortlessly for 15-20 years. Bravo!

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #212, Apr 2014)

Tasted at the Pontet-Canet vertical in London, the 2011 Château Pontet Canet must constitute one of the best wines on the Left Bank, even if it does not quite live up to its stellar performance from barrel. Lucid purple in color, the bouquet leaps from the glass and yells "Pauillac" - thanks to its graphite seam interwoven through the black fruit. Over ten minutes, tobacco scents join the fray and it develops what you might call "mint fresh" aromatics. The palate is medium-bodied and remains understated on the entry, perhaps exaggerated by the exuberance of the nose. However, there is no question that this is a refined, pure and seamless Pontet-Canet with crème de cassis and cedar inter-layered on the sustained finish. Bon vin – eRobertParker.com, July 2016

[60CS/35M/3CF/2PV] Fragrant, pure, ripe red fruit and subtle oak nose, which should make a most attractive bouquet; a medium bodied Pauillac with a juicily ripe fruit core and finely textured tannin; lovely medium term balance, classic fresh, relatively supple claret, pure, transparent, gently gravelly flavour with fine scented length. Complete within the year and very much my style of claret. 2020-30+ [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2012]

This cuts a broad swath, with prominent notes of espresso and ganache leading to the core of crushed plum and blackberry confiture. Lush, with the ganache edge joining a loamy hint to underscore the finish. Consistent with the barrel tasting, this shows more breadth than cut in the end. Best from 2016 through 2026. – James Molesworth (WineSpectator.com, March 2014)

A wine with lots of ripe berries, verging on dried fruits. Full and chewy with ripe, round, chewy tannins. It needs lots of bottle age. A wine of steel. From biodynamically grown grapes, as always. Better than from barrel. Try in 2018. – jamessuckling.com, Jan 2014

Lots of sweet jujube fruit. Fruit pastille. Silky but a little raisined. Softer than most at this stage but rather simple and not terribly pure. – Julia Harding (jancisrobinson.com, Jan 2015)

Quality 825 | Brand 983 | Economics 670 | buzz brand
Quality: Above the average quality score of its peer group for the 2011 vintage, 649 Brand: Strong restaurant presence, featuring on 27 of the world's top wine lists, including Amber - Mandarin Oriental Economics: Below its peer group average price of £72 for the 2011 vintage Production: Higher production than its peer group average of 151,058 bottles

- www.wine-lister.com June 2017