Chateau Pontet-Canet 2005

Warm, fleshy and inviting, featuring a gush of blackberry, fig and boysenberry compote flavors that are both primal and approachable, with light anise, sweet tobacco and ganache notes filling in behind. Shows a serious, deeply buried iron and cedar spine, as the fruit is just pumping forth now. -- Blind '01/'03/'05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Drink now through 2035. 20,830 cases made.

Despite its core of strength and power and obvious aging ability, this is already a delicious wine, with mint aromas, ripe fruit masking the solid tannins. This estate has been on a roll for several years, and this 2005 shows why.

2005 marked the first year of biodynamic conversion at Château Pontet-Canet. The blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Merlot was closed initially but opened with a bit of time to show a pleasant plummy fruit character and a bit of spice. At first, the wine felt awkward on the palate, with some astringency and a slightly tart edge but finished with firm tannins and structure—a wine of character that lacks at present a bit of charm. Should age well.

Good full ruby-red. Complex, enticing aromas of black raspberry, licorice, minerals, bitter chocolate, lead pencil and pungent cedar; just this side of exotic. Wonderfully silky, sweet and thick, with a powerful minerality framing the currant, graphite and spice flavors. This boasts superb inner-mouth energy and great length, with the full, ripe tannins totally enrobed by the wine's mid-palate richness. (My sample of the 2006 was old and tired, so I'll wait until next year to report on the finished wine; this was a star in the early going.)

The wine kicks off with its cherry, leaf, and floral perfume before you dig into a big juicy mouthful of black, and red fruits, spice, cedar, and tobacco. The wine borders the corners of robust and regal in style. 1 hour of decanting is all that's needed. Drink from 2024-2045.

A classic expression of this Château that's still in its adolescent phase, the 2005 Château Pontet-Canet has a youthful ruby/plum hue to go with incredibly pure aromatics of cassis, graphite, crushed stone like minerality, and subtle cedar pencil notes. I love its overall purity and focus, and it's medium to full-bodied, has ripe, yet building tannins, terrific balance, and a great finish. While it clearly offers pleasure, especially if you don't mind some tannins, it deserves another 3-5 years of bottle age, and it should have a two decade or so prime drinking plateau.

(70 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 25 % Merlot, 3 % Cabernet Franc, 2 % Petit Verdot): made for the first time from 100 % organically grown grapes and will be remembered as the year of the great drought. The intense heat produced dense and concentrated wines, lush with deep fruit notes of preserved fruits, liquorice, pepper, dried fruits and eucalyptus. Pauillac extract. Cellar it.

Dark violet-black. Brilliant Nose, blackcurrant, dried fruit, tar of extreme depth, impressive with its Cabernet essence perfume. Big Palate attack, dense, meaty, tight, again everything in the dark berry range, Cassis, blackcurrant, dramatic length. Not only the best Pontet-Canet ever produced, but among the greatest Pauillacs. Although this will be the most expensive wine of the rising estate, it is certainly worth honouring this enormous quality performance. 07: Brilliance fully captured in the bottle. Made an absolutely tremendous impression, lots of volume, Cassis, blackcurrant, dried prunes, dark chocolate, fat tannins. Belongs among the greatest 2005s - a must-buy. 11: A glass from a bottle opened at midday. I tasted the wine shortly before midnight at a gala dinner at the Source de Caudalie. It almost knocked me over. Despite the power, there is such finesse as I have never experienced in a Pontet-Canet. And I have never had such a grand Pontet-Canet in my glass. (19/20). 18: It is currently grand and unapproachable at the same time. The Nose shows half Pauillac, half Napa Cabernet. On the Palate meaty with a slightly sandy texture. Above all, the tannins are still quite prominent. Waiting is the better alternative. (19/20). 20: At a wine evening in Emmenbrücke with André Kunz. The wine is certainly open on the Nose and shows lots of freshness with mint, other herbs and blackcurrant. On the Palate, however, it still acts quite brutally with its demanding tannins. A Pauillac power.

Velvety, sweet, powerful and fruity bouquet, blackcurrant cream, plums, liquorice. Creamy, dense and fruity palate with powerful sweet fruit, fine tannins, velvety structure, powerful sweet aromatics, long and full finish with sweet retro-olfactory aromas. 19/20 drink - 2038

The wine is tender, with a supple palate, slightly austere on the finish.

Garnet colour with slightly violet hues. Elegant Nose, slightly floral. On aeration it reveals fruity notes that evoke It perfectly combines aging and fruit. Fruity and refreshing attack. Lots of red fruits and perfectly integrated tannins. They are granular and in symbiosis with the structure. The latter gives vigour and balance to the wine. There is richness, character and persistence. A truly great wine.

Logo on the cork: illegible Beautiful dark, deep red, still young. Intense nose, with pure, fine fruit, but slightly cold. Precise on the attack, very aromatic in the mid-palate, full-bodied, the wine firms up in the finish, with a hint of hardness to be related to the cold sensation on the nose. Normal length.