Chateau Pontet-Canet Pauillac 2017

Composed of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, the medium to deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Pontet-Canet gives up beautifully fragrant notes of rosehip tea, lilacs, cinnamon stick, cloves, dried leaves and underbrush with a core of kirsch, raspberry coulis, warm plums and red and black currants plus a waft of pencil shavings. Medium-bodied, the palate is refreshing, minerally and wonderfully elegant with a well-played texture of approachable, plush tannins and a long, fragrant finish. Beautiful. Aging took place in 50% new and 15% in second fill barrels and the remaining 35% in amphorae for 16 months, much of the material for which came from the soil at Pontet-Canet!

The perfume intensity of this wine is remarkable. Firm and velvet at the same time, the tannins are the prelude to the pure, opulent blackberry fruits and balanced acidity. The lines of the wine are clear and direct, a true promise for aging. Drink from 2024.

A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot, the 2017 Pontet-Canet is deep garnet-purple colored. It skips out of the glass with youthful notes of black raspberries, fresh blackcurrants, and Morello cherries, plus touches of iris petals, forest floor, and crushed rocks. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is laden with vibrant black and red fruit layers, framed by ripe, velvety tannins and gorgeous freshness, finishing long and fragrant. This is such a pretty wine!

Very tight, with notes of wet stone, plum pit and chalky minerality leading the way, backed by an ample core of steeped currant, blackberry and black cherry fruit waiting to unfurl. The finish smolders with cast iron details. Should round into form with cellaring. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2024 through 2040.

This is a very charming Pauillac with texture, rippling energy and undoubted finesse. It's deceptive, because the dark, luscious blackberry, bilberry, and damson notes are fairly fresh, with a luscious lipsmacking quality, but the tannins build over the palate. It almost tastes like a St-Julien rather than a Pauillac as they're so fine and elegant, but the Pauillac character becomes more apparent by the close of play - there's no hiding those swirling cassis, smoke and menthol notes. This has a really gorgeous tension and freshness without sacrificing concentration. They used brand-new concrete vats this year, designed by technical director Jean-Michel Comme's, for one-third of the crop. The concrete was made from sands and gravels extracted from the exact spot that the building containing them now stands, utilising geothermal heating and cooling, with as few metallic parts as possible and insulated with hemp. The wine will be aged in 50% new oak, 35% concrete vats and t15% in one-year-old barrels. They have made nearly no second wine again. Just 1% frost loss in 2017. The Merlot was harvested from 18 September, block by block over 10 days, then deleafed. The Cabernets were picked from 28 September through until 4 October.

Dark ruby ??garnet, opaque core, violet reflections, delicate water edge. Delicately floral nuances of cassis and blackberry jam, candied orange zest, dried rosehip and tobacco, needs air. Complex, full-bodied, dark berry fruit, delicate fruit sweetness, ripe tannins, freshly structured, minerally, similarly light-weight as in 2013 - at the moment something in the direction of a longer hibernation on the way, as young, great wines like to do before they have passed through adolescence and presented themselves as young men - will make a secure career as an elegant food companion in the future. (2025 -2040)

The first vintage with the new fermentation vats when the estate began destemming by hand. Bright, fresh, crisp, and crunchy, this is a return to classicism. Here, you find notes of spearmint, currants, crushed rocks, lead pencil, and red fruits. Medium/full-bodied, with a bite to the fruit on the palate and in the finish, give this a few more years in the cellar and it could soften and fill out as it develops additional complexities. One of the most successful wines of the vintage, the wine blends 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. 13% ABV. Drink from 2030-2055.

Deep ruby/purple-hued and based on 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 2017 Chateau Pontet-Canet spent 16 months in a 50% new barrels, 35% in amphora, and the balance in once-used barrels. It's an exceedingly elegant Pontet-Canet that has textbook Pauillac notes of blackcurrants, unsmoked tobacco, lead pencil shavings, new leather, and flowery incense. It's not a blockbuster and reminds me slightly of the 2004, yet it has wonderful depth of fruit, ultra-fine tannins, and beautiful purity and elegance. It's already approachable, but it’s going to be even better with 5-6 years of bottle age and have 20-25 years of prime drinking.