Chateau Pontet Canet - Pauillac 2016 750ml
"2016 Vintage
The winter was particularly mild and wet, lavishly replenishing water reserves and guaranteeing the vines many months of active growth. These elements were crucial in determining our biodynamic approach for the year. The absence of cold weather encouraged very early budbreak. However, many weeks of cool and damp weather then greatly slowed vine growth. Flowering, which occurred in late May, was a very stressful time. Fortunately, everything went well.
Then, in early July, the skies unexpectedly changed their plans again, bringing us more than three months of hot and dry weather. The summery conditions lasted almost until mid-October, allowing us to prepare for the harvest in a serene frame of mind. We started to pick the Merlot on September 28th, then the Cabernet Sauvignon on October 4th, and ended the harvest on October 12th.
Tasting
The wine has a deep, dark colour and a powerful, complex nose, fresh and with a comforting purity. The impressive attack is sustained by a dense, full-bodied and refreshing structure, with succulent and highly precise tannins, leading into a sumptuous finish. A legend! This 2016 has a pedigree and a strength that attain to our idea of perfection." -Château Pontet-Canet
"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 (January 2019)
Style/ Variety: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot
Region: Bordeaux, France
ABV: 14.5%
Vol: 750ml
