2010 Château Pontet-Canet, Pauillac, Bordeaux

2010 Château Pontet-Canet, Pauillac, Bordeaux

Product: 20108007342
Prices start from £790.00 per case Buying options
2010 Château Pontet-Canet, Pauillac, Bordeaux

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Description

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

A few years ago proprietor Alfred Tesseron gave us a blind tasting of four Pauillac wines from the 1996 vintage. They turned out to be Mouton, Latour, Lafite and Pontet-Canet, and the last-named lost virtually nothing by comparison with its lofty peers. We reckon he could repeat the exercise this year with the same results. This is a monumental wine, seamlessly brilliant on the palate, exuding class on the bouquet. Everything is in such balance and harmony that we feel we should not bother to find the vocabulary to describe it, so we'll just say it’s very special.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

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Critics reviews

Neal Martin, Vinous92/100

The 2010 Pontet-Canet is noticeably deep in colour compared to its peers. This is unusually ripe and sweet on the nose, more red than black fruit, maybe a little jammy and confit-like. I would never guess this was a 2010 Left Bank. The palate is medium-bodied with a fleshy mouthfeel, plenty of graphite-tinged red fruit. Approachable in style and sensually fulfilling, it just lacks a bit of grip and backbone on the finish. I have fonder memories of previous bottles but I could not identify any specific fault.

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (April 2020)

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Ian D'Agata, Vinous93+/100

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

Bright ruby. Knockout nose of cassis, black pepper, minerals and cedar just screams Pauillac. Enters the mouth sweet, creamy and pure, displaying very rich, dense flavors of black fruit, minerals and dried herbs, with lively, integrated acidity keeping the wine from coming across as top-heavy. Finishes extremely long, with silky tannins and an intriguing floral note. 

Twenty-four hectares are now farmed by horse (up from seven last year) at what has become the first officially certified biodynamic grand cru classe property of Bordeaux. This wine has one of the most impressive and memorable noses of all in 2010 and is much better than the very good but generally overrated 2009. 

Though it's a little more accessible now than some other great wines of 2010 such as Latour and Calon-Segur, this still needs another 10 to 12 years in the cellar to start showing its best and will keep another 40 years after that without problem.

Ian D'Agata, Vinous.com (May 2011)

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Jane Anson98/100

Deep plum in colour at 11 years old, barely budging through the mid palate. A vintage that rivals the best ever in Bordeaux, this is richly layered with sweet liqourice, eucalyptus, cigar box, blackberry and cassis, with a fennel twist on the finish. Classically Pauillac, stately, ageing slowly but surely, and only now at the stage where you can confidently open it to drink over supper - with a long carafe first of up to 6 hours. Relatively high alcohol for a Pauillac wine adds to the round mouthfeel but not a trace of heat. Harvest September 29 to October 17. First year of biodynamic certification.

Drink 2021 - 2050

Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (September 2021)

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Wine Advocate100/100

The 2010 Pontet-Canet offers a very deep garnet color. Whoa—the nose explodes with a vast array of black fruit preserves and savory nuances: plum preserves, blackcurrant cordial, black cherry coulis and licorice with wafts of dried lavender, melted chocolate, charcuterie, black olives, truffles and camphor plus a hint of sandalwood. The full-bodied palate is completely filled with black fruits, exotic spices and earthy nuances with a firm foundation of ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness, finishing with epic length and depth. So much more expressive and seductive than a lot of 2010s at this stage, and yet it is still incredibly youthful!

Drink 2025 - 2070

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Advocate (May 2020)

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Jancis Robinson MW18.5++/20

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

Reticent nose, yet there is immediate complexity too: graphite, cassis, sweet spice, violet, dark chocolate. The palate is still so youthful! It's plush, svelte, modern, rich and framed by excellent acidic bite. Has this been stored cryogenically? There's a long way to go before this starts to reach its full potential. Is it a 100-pointer? It's hard to imagine any château bettering this effort in 2010. It is at once classic and modern, with wonderful poise and persistence.

Drink 2025 - 2050

Richard Hemming MW, JancisRobinson.com (December 2020)

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Wine Spectator96-99/100

Seriously dense, with thickly layered fig paste, macerated black currant fruit, Kenya AA coffee and roasted tobacco. But really fresh and invigorating throughout, with mouthwatering iron and apple wood notes. Despite the power, this cuts like a knife from the start. When the Bordelais say precise, this is what they mean.

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator (March 2011)

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James Suckling100/100

The aromas to this are incredible with blueberry, minerals, dried flowers, and stones. It goes to dried meat and spices. Full body and incredibly integrated with blackberry, licorice, and minerals. There's a wonderful purity to this. It goes on for minutes. The quality of tannins is amazing. Seamless. There's an amazing transparency that shows you all the elements of the wine's unique terrior. 

Try after 2018

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (February 2013)

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Robert Parker100/100

An absolutely amazing wine, from grapes harvested between the end of September and October 17, this blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot has close to 15% natural alcohol. It comes from one of the few biodynamic vineyards in Bordeaux, but you are likely to see many more, given the success that Tesseron seems to be having at all levels, both in his vineyards and in his fermentation/winemaking. 

An astounding, compelling wine with the classic Pauillac nose more often associated with its cross-street neighbor, Mouton-Rothschild, creme de cassis, there are also some violets and other assorted floral notes. The wine has off-the-charts massiveness and intensity but never comes across as heavy, overbearing or astringent. The freshness, laser-like precision, and full-bodied, massive richness and extract are simply remarkable to behold and experience. It is very easy, to become jaded tasting such great wines from a great vintage, but it is really a privilege to taste something as amazing as this. 

Unfortunately, it needs a good decade of cellaring, and that’s assuming it doesn’t close down over the next few years. This is a 50- to 75-year wine from one of the half-dozen or so most compulsive and obsessive proprietors in all of Bordeaux. Is there anything that proprietor Alfred Tesseron is not doing right? Talk about an estate that is on top of its game! Pontet-Canet’s 2010 is a more structured, tannic and restrained version of their most recent perfect wine, the 2009. Kudos to Pontet-Canet!

Drink 2021 - 2061

Robert M. Parker, Jr., Wine Advocate (February 2013)

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Decanter98/100

Gorgeous bright and juicy cherry and cassis, pencil lead and floral aromas seduce you. The palate is long and spherical. This, the first vintage certified both organic and biodynamic, has impressive depth and power delivered with refinement. The power of Lynch-Bages but with a bit more elegance. A long, palate-enveloping finish. You can serve with haute cuisine, but why not a high-quality hamburger? Sometimes the simplest dishes, with quality ingredients, go best with top wine.

Drink 2021 - 2055

Panos Kakaviatos, Decanter.com (May 2021)

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Tim Atkin MW98/100

The attention to detail at this over-­performing biodynamic Fifth Growth has elevated it into Bordeaux’s front rank over the last five years. This is as good as the equally wonderful 2009, albeit in a different style, with more tannin and acidity, but the same perfume, fruit concentration, subtle oak usage and palate length thanks to careful extraction.

Tim Atkin MW, TimAtkin.com (May 2011)

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Jeb Dunnuck98+/100

The 2010 Pontet-Canet lags behind the 2009, but these two vintages can be hard to compare due the drastically different styles. Where the 2009 is broad, expansive, and showy, the 2010 starts our more reserved and classic in style, with beautiful notes of cassis, cedarwood, lead pencil shavings, tobacco, and damp earth all developing with air. Deep, beautifully concentrated, full-bodied, and powerful, it’s built for the long haul and needs 5-7 years of bottle age, but I suspect will see its 50th birthday in still fine drinking form.

Drink 2022 - 2073

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (October 2018)

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Stephen Tanzer93+/100

Bright ruby-red. Superripe, soil-driven aromas of currant, plum, cherry pie, mocha and minerals; almost liqueur-like in its ripeness, in a 1947 way. Then huge, sweet and plush, with great volume and depth to its flavors of cassis, flowers, minerals, game and olive. Finishes with big, ripe, horizontal tannins and great mounting length. This remarkably thick wine is actually a bit youthfully stunted today and should really be cellared for ten years. It should go on for three or four decades in a cool cellar.

Stephen Tanzer, Vinous.com (July 2013)

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About this WINE

Chateau Pontet-Canet

Chateau Pontet-Canet

Château Pontet-Canet is a large Pauillac estate that can trace its origins back to 1725, when Jean-François Pontet gave his name to the estate he had acquired. The wine was not château-bottled until 1972 and in 1975 the property was sold to Guy Tesseron, of the Tesseron family, one of the finest exponents of luxury, very old, aged Cognacs (Cognac Tesseron).

The Tesserons also own Château Lafon-Rochet in St-Estephe. Today, Château Pontet-Canet is owned and run by Alfred and Michel Tesseron.

Pontet-Canet's 78 hectares of vineyards adjoin those of Mouton Rothschild and are planted with Cabernet Sauvignon (63%), Merlot (32%) and Cabernet Franc  (5%).

The Tesserons have vastly improved the quality of the Pontet-Canet wines which are now full-bodied and packed with ripe, chewy, black fruits and finely integrated tannins. The wines posseses marvellous ageing potential.

Pontet-Canet is classified as a 5ème Cru Classé.

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Pauillac

Pauillac

Pauillac is the aristocrat of the Médoc boasting boasting 75 percent of the region’s First Growths and with Grand Cru Classés representing 84 percent of Pauillac's production.

For a small town, surrounded by so many familiar and regal names, Pauillac imparts a slightly seedy impression. There are no grand hotels or restaurants – with the honourable exception of the establishments owned by Jean-Michel Cazes – rather a small port and yacht harbour, and a dominant petrochemical plant.

Yet outside the town, , there is arguably the greatest concentration of fabulous vineyards throughout all Bordeaux, including three of the five First Growths. Bordering St Estèphe to the north and St Julien to the south, Pauillac has fine, deep gravel soils with important iron and marl deposits, and a subtle, softly-rolling landscape, cut by a series of small streams running into the Gironde. The vineyards are located on two gravel-rich plateaux, one to the northwest of the town of Pauillac and the other to the south, with the vines reaching a greater depth than anywhere else in the Médoc.

Pauillac's first growths each have their own unique characteristics; Lafite Rothschild, tucked in the northern part of Pauillac on the St Estèphe border, produces Pauillac's most aromatically complex and subtly-flavoured wine. Mouton Rothschild's vineyards lie on a well-drained gravel ridge and - with its high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon - can produce (in its best years) Pauillac's most decadently rich, fleshy and exotic wine.

Latour, arguably Bordeaux's most consistent First Growth, is located in southern Pauillac next to St Julien. Its soil is gravel-rich with superb drainage, and Latour's vines penetrate as far as five metres into the soil. It produces perhaps the most long-lived wines of the Médoc.

Recommended Châteaux
Ch. Lafite-Rothschild, Ch. Latour, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild, Ch. Pichon-Longueville Baron, Ch. Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Ch. Lynch-Bages, Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Ch, Pontet-Canet, Les Forts de Latour, Ch. Haut-Batailley, Ch. Batailley, Ch. Haut-Bages Libéral.

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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