Chateau Pontet Canet, Pauillac, 2012

Chateau Pontet Canet

Deep garnet coloured, with a profound core of baked plums, creme de cassis, and cigar box with wafts of tapenade, wood smoke, and mossy bark, plus a spicy hint of cumin seed.
There is certainly great purity and terroir expression on the nose: blackberry, briary and background scents of fresh raspberry and cold stone.

France

Bordeaux

Elegant, complex, layered

Red

13.5

75.0

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

Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate 93/100
"Deep garnet in colour, the 2012 Pontet-Canet gives up a profound earthy/savoury nose, revealing notes of tilled soil, woodsmoke, mossy tree bark, fungi and bouquet garni with a core of raspberry preserves, boysenberries and dried cherries plus a hint of warm cassis. Medium-bodied, it has a firm grainy texture and a softly spoken, savoury character in the mouth, finishing with lingering oolong tea and dried herbs notes."

Robert M. Parker, Jr. 94/100
"A softer, less powerful and less prodigiously endowed Pontet Canet, the 2012 exhibits notes of creme de cassis and new barrique vanillin followed by a medium-bodied, elegant wine with sweeter tannin (and less of it) than is found in the great vintages that immediately precede it. The 2012 is certainly outstanding and, in fact, many readers may prefer it to the blockbuster, out-of-this-world, over-sized 2010, 2009 and 2008. Medium-bodied, pure and expressive, this classic Pauillac should only require 5-6 years of cellaring. It should drink well for two decades thereafter."