2015 Pontet Canet 1500ml

So much floral and dark-fruit character with almonds and walnut shell. Full body and ultra-fine tannins. Powerful. Classic style with a harmony and energy. Goes on for minutes. A superb wine with great fruit. Real Bordeaux. Try in 2025.

Barrel Sample. This is an opulent wine, very generous with forward blackberry fruits. Behind an accessible exterior, there is a dark core of tannins, as well as a wonderful, rounded structure. There could be more acidity, though the wine is finely balanced. It shows immediate fruit but will age well and long. 97 points

Proprietor Alfred Tesseron and winemaker Jean-Michel Comme produced an absolutely stellar Pontet-Canet in 2015. Sumptuous, racy and totally inviting, the 2015 is all class. Super-ripe dark cherry, plum, spice and exotic floral notes build as the 2015 shows off its alluring personality. Even with all of its raciness, the 2015 speaks with authority and power. Fine tannins extend the persistent, highly nuanced finish. The 2015 is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot aged 50% new oak, 4% in terra cotta and 15% in neutral oak. Tasted three times.

A blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, 50% of the 2015 Pontet-Canet was aged in new French oak, while 15% was matured in second fill barrels and 35% in cement amphorae. Deep garnet-purple in color, the nose opens with exuberant black currants, red currants and black raspberries scents plus an evocative undercurrent of cedar chest, dusty earth, cloves, chocolate box and Provence herbs with a fragrant waft of lavender. Medium to full-bodied and built like a brick house with very firm, wonderfully grainy tannins and black and red fruits charged with the most singular energy, it finishes with incredible persistence and depth.

Deep, velvety texture on the palate and wild flowers on the nose; unctuous yet firm with pristine clarity. A great wine by any standards – and the standards of Alfred Tesseron for his biodynamic vineyards and amphora-matured wine are magnificently evident.2022-2045

The 2015 Pontet Canet is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot brought up in 50% new oak, and 35% in amphora. With textbook Pauillac notes of lead pencil shavings, tobacco leaf, smoke, and licorice, as well as a core of pure crème de cassis fruit, this beautiful, full-bodied, impeccably balanced is one of the few 2015s that’s going to demand cellaring. The tannin are high, yet sweet, and like its bright acidity, nicely integrated into the wine. Forget bottles for 5-7 years and enjoy over the following three decades. I don’t put this as the level of the 2009 and 2010, but it’s still a beautiful wine. Tasted three times. 95+

Straight off the nose this hits you with rich, dark fruits, spice, and the promise of longevity. There is a real focus and purity to the fruit, but the depth of flavour and firm wall of tannins leave you in no doubt that it's a Pauillac. This has so much depth, with an inky, pencil-lead aspect on the attack, but what becomes clearer through the palate is in fact the freshness and the opening up of the fruit. As ever at Pontet, winemaker Jean-Michel Comme is searching for less and less intervention in the winemaking process, with the cellar moving away from any electricity at all. The 2015 wine has been aged in amphoras as well as in oak barrels. Bottled in July.

The 2015 Pontet-Canet has an intense, crushed violet-scented bouquet that as I remarked upon out of barrel, imparts a Margaux-like personality. It is quite high-toned and exuberant at this early juncture and will clearly require several years to calm down. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent black fruit on the entry, quite spicy with notes of black pepper and sage, perhaps just a little fiery in personality. However, counterbalancing this is a sense of harmony and focus. It is just a bit boisterous at this early stage, then the finish is tightly wound albeit well defined, leaving that spiciness as its calling card on the aftertaste. Anticipated maturity: 2022 - 2045.