Chateau Pontet-Canet 2016 | Better than the First Growths?
Wine Enthusiast has just released its list of top Cellar Selections of 2019. And the 100-point Chateau Pontet-Canet 2016 has landed at #2 overall! That honor—much like the perfect 2009 and 2010 vintages, which were quick sellouts —is just more evidence to prove that Pontet-Canet is a legitimate rival to the First Growths.
So, Winebuyoftheday usually focuses on red gems under $50. Sometimes a bit higher. But Chateau Pontet-Canet bottlings are an exception. My personal experience with the winery is nothing short of exceptional, having had the opportunity to share the 2000 vintage with my closest friends. So, if you pardon me for splurging, I will be sharing more Chateau Pontet-Canet vintages with you. I hope you splurge too! And the Chateau Pontet-Canet 2016 is off the charts amazing. More about what the experts had to say…
The 2016 is tremendous. It’s as simple as that.
100pts Wine Enthusiast |A voluptuous wine, this is rich and fruity yet properly balanced by a magnificent structure. Pure, crisp, and packed with a black currant flavor, this will be a remarkable wine as it develops. Still young, it needs many years to develop. Don’t think about drinking before 2025.
More Sensational Cellar Selections
99 pts Vinous | The Chateau Pontet-Canet 2016 is absolutely breathtaking. Powerful, ample, and racy in the glass, the 2016 is one of the most exquisitely well-balanced young Pontet-Canet’s I can remember tasting. Savory, high-toned aromatics, and brisk mineral notes lend energy and delineation as this vivid wonderfully alive wine opens up in the glass. The flavors are dark and incisive, but it is the wine’s total sense of harmony that is most compelling. All of the elements are simply in the right place. The 2016 is tremendous. It’s as simple as that.
Proprietor Alfred Tesseron. Winemaker Jean-Michel Comme
98pts Wine Advocate | 2016 marks the 40th vintage at Pontet-Canet for Alfred Tesseron. Winemaker Jean-Michel Comme mentioned it was wet at the beginning of the year, but thankfully the weather changed in late June. Thus, 2016 was a more normal/typical mildew year, so the disease pressure wasn’t too much of an issue. Then it was very dry until fall. He believes the vintage could be compared to 1961 or 2010. The result is an uninhibited, truly singular showing of Pontet-Canet this year—perhaps the richest, most sumptuous, and hedonic expression of the vintage of all the great Left Bank wines.
Explore today’s finds at Bounty Hunter
Alfred converted Pontet-Canet’s farming to organic and later biodynamic practices, halting the use of all chemicals, and noticing a better concentration of flavors in the fruit as the years went on. He also changed the whole facility to a gravity-fed one, avoiding the use of pumps that can extract astringent seed tannins, and installing a double sorting line to ensure that only pristine berries make it into the winery. Alfred himself designed cement vats and amphorae for fermentation, drawing upon the gravel from the property itself to mix the cement, infusing the wine with the property’s terroir throughout the process.
Every one of the Pontet-Canet bottles we’ve featured recently has shown off Alfred Tesseron’s incredible achievements at the Pauillac estate, and this is your opportunity to get a Bordeaux that stands with the best, bar none, at a pre-arrival price.
