A voluptuous wine, this is rich and fruity yet properly balanced by a magnificent structure. Pure, crisp and packed with a black currant flavor, this will be a remarkable wine as it develops. Still young, it needs many years to develop. Don't think about drinking before 2025.
100 points, Roger Voss, Wine Enthusiast (May 2019)
The 2016 Pontet-Canet is absolutely breathtaking. Powerful, ample and racy in the glass, the 2016 is one of the most exquisitely well-balanced young Pontet-Canets I can remember tasting. Savory, high-toned aromatics and brisk mineral notes lend energy and delineation as this vivid wonderfully alive wine opens up in the glass. The flavors are dark and incisive, but it is the wine's total sense of harmony that is most compelling. All of the elements are simply in the right place. The 2016 is tremendous. It's as simple as that. As is often the case, Pontet-Canet is one of the most singular wines in Bordeaux. Alfred Tesseron could have chosen to play things safe when he took over the management of the estate in the mid-1990s. Instead, he chose a very different path. No proprietor in Bordeaux has taken more risks over the last two decades than Alfred Tesseron. A commitment to biodynamic farming, sustainability across the entire estate more broadly, and the adoption of new concepts for Bordeaux, such as aging a portion of the wine in terra cotta, set Pontet-Canet apart from other properties in Pauillac and the Left Bank. Not surprisingly, the wine is also starkly different from the wines of neighboring estates.
99 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous (Jan 2019)
The 2016 Pontet-Canet is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple colored, it explodes from the glass with bombastic creme de cassis, stewed plums, and blueberry preserves notes, giving way to subtle notions of licorice, lilacs, and damp soil plus a waft of truffles. Full-bodied, it is super concentrated with a lovely line of freshness and ripe, firm, grainy tannins, finishing very long and with amazing purity.
99 points, Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent (Jun 2022)
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2016 Pontet-Canet hits the ground running with a hedonic nose of Black Forest cake, crème de cassis and blueberry pie plus suggestions of candied violets, hoisin, chocolate mint, charcuteries and forest floor with a waft of star anise. Full-bodied, rich, profoundly layered and powerfully fruited, the palate is built like a brick house, with very firm, super ripe, grainy tannins and harmonious freshness, finishing with incredible length and depth. Still incredibly primary and yet already strutting so many layers, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this warrants the three-digit score in a few years' time.
98+ points, Wine Advocate (May 2020)
Reminding me of the 2010 and, I suspect, a wine that will merit a triple-digit rating in a decade or so (I tasted this on multiple occasions and thought it was perfect on one of them), the 2016 Château Pontet-Canet comes from 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and the balance Petit Verdot that spent 16 months in 50% new French oak, 35% in concrete amphora, and the rest in second fill oak. Thrilling notes of pure crème de cassis, lead pencil shavings, crushed mint, graphite, and crushed rock notes all emerge from this deep, powerful, yet elegant Pauillac. The style of this wine has become more and more finesse-driven and pure, yet it hasn’t lost a beat on concentration or length. This singular, beautiful Pontet-Canet needs 7-8 years of cellaring (it has some accessibility today given its purity and balance) and will keep for 4-5 decades.
98+ points, Jeb Dunnuck (Feb 2019)
Vivid and distinctly aromatic nose of herbs, thyme and menthol. Concentrated, very precise and chiseled, with a medium to full body. Showing great detail and linear fruit that is particularly attractive. Really captivating. Enjoyable now or suitable for further aging. Drink or hold. 10 Years On retrospective.
98 points, Jacobo García Andrade, James Suckling (Feb 2026)
Oh this is good. We are fully up to 2010 level here and coming close to surpassing it. A full wall of tannins, one of those wines that you have to scale to get to the heights but the views are great at the top. Cassis, bilberry, liqourice, black chocolate, aniseed, all with a sense of energy and such freshness on the finish. Clear depth and vivacity to all elements of this wine. It needs time, because the tannins are a little forbidding right now, but it is going to be worth the wait. Harvest September 28 to October 12.
98 points, Jane Anson (Oct 2021)
Top wine of the vertical. Deep, violet hue. Even if the nose is slightly closed, initially, what pure fruit! A degree higher in alcohol than the 2015, but superb balance. The pristine fruit, fine-grained tannins, focus and precision lead to an outstanding finish, surpassing even the 2010. It has the sumptuousness of the 2015, but the arc and tension of the 2010.Great capacity for ageing. Aged 50% new oak , 35% amphora.
98 points, Panos Kakaviatos, Decanter (Sep 2021)
Top Quality Store
