"The 2025 Pontet-Canet is a wine of exquisite class...one of the more refined, sublimely beautiful wines of the year... 96-98+ points" Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com
Released for sale en primeur, 2025 Château Pontet-Canet is offered at £378 per six bottles in bond. Alfred Tesseron has set a happy precedent by reducing the release price by 3% on last year, with a slight increase in the sterling price being accounted for by the exhange rate. This compares favourably with the release prices of £365 in 2019 and £685 in 2016.
We found this to be one of the most thrilling wines of the vintage when we tasted it in Bordeaux last week, so we urge you to consider adding it to your cellar. Galloni's drinking dates range from 2033-2065, so you could be enjoying it in a few years' time, or opt to guard it for three decades, as a cellar investment (...maybe funded by selling a few of your AI shares!). Jane Anson sums up our own experience of the wine beautifully, saying it has "a ton of energy", and "Walks the line of fresh and juicy flavours alongside a brooding concentrated architecture..." and with "huge ageing potential" (96 points). Our own tasting note began with the word "luxurious!" and James Suckling reflects this in his note, referring to the wines "overall softness and gorgeousness. Yet structured...(97-98 points)."
The '25 is a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 4% Caberbet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The grapes were harvested after the rain in late August/early September, and we were told that they opted to wait an additional few days for this rain to take effect and for the vines to regain a degree of their concentration, which may account for some of the voluptuousness of the mid-palate. The maceration time and punching down of the cap were limited to avoid excessive extraction, resulting in the beautiful balance and elegance we experienced in the glass.
Offered en primeur. Landing spring 2028.
Magnums available with £25 ex-VAT bottling surcharge per six. Please enquire for other formats.
All previous offers of 2025 Bordeaux can be found here.
Producer Profile
Château Pontet-Canet
Château Pontet-Canet is a Cinquièmes Cru Classé in Pauillac. The estate is named after Jean-François de Pontet, Master of the Horse to Louis XV at Versailles. Pontet became Governor of the Médoc and in 1705, he purchased a few acres of land to the north of the village of Pauillac, which he turned into a vineyard. A few years later, he added several parcels in a place called Canet.
The estate was owned by the Cruse family from 1865 until 1975, when it was purchased by Cognac merchant Guy Tesseron. Run since 1994 by Guy's son Alfred Tesseron (with Jean-Michel Comme as his régisseur until May 2020), the estate has been transformed into one of the world's leading practitioners of biodynamics, converting fully in 2004. Along the way, the reputation of this fifth growth has risen to compete with the very best second growths. Pioneering the reintroduction of horses into the vineyards and the use of inert maturation vessels like concrete tanks and amphorae (to reduce oak influence and accentuate terroir), Tesseron has become a thought-leader in the very traditional world of the Crus Classés.
The estate has 81 hectares under vine, planted to 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot on deep gravel with clay and limestone soils.
| RED | 2025 | Château Pontet Canet | 75cl | £378 per case of 6 | Château Pontet Canet 2025 / / 75cl £378 per case of 6 |
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Tasting Notes"Inky but vivid bright plum colour, tannins at the front of the mouth, a ton of energy, if reserved at this early stage. Expect graphite and crayon, lovely lift and floral Cabernet Sauvignon character; low yields like much of Pauillac and small berries ensuring the tannins are plentiful. Walks the line of fresh and juicy flavours alongside a brooding concentrated architecture, huge ageing potential with cold ash and gunsmoke nuance. Although there was some rain at end of June and July, this was still a dry vintage, and vineyard work including braiding the vines for shade and applying chamomile as sunscreen, so they coped better than in 2022 overall. Harvest September 2 to 23, indigenous yeasts that are specific to the vintage, 40% new oak, 35% clay amphoras, 15% one year old barrels. Extended maceration, low SO2 with zero added until after fermentation. 96 points" janeanson.com------"A precise and beautiful wine with total integration of the fruit and polished tannins that give a caressing and seductive mouthfeel. It’s medium-bodied with lovely fruit, a gentle nature and an overall softness and gorgeousness. Yet structured. 97-98 points" jamessuckling.com------"The 2025 Pontet-Canet is a wine of exquisite class. Silky, aromatic and vibrant, the 2025 is all finesse. Crushed red/purplish fruit, lavender, rose petal and a gentle hint of spice are all wonderfully knit together. Pontet-Canet is one of the more refined, sublimely beautiful wines of the year. This could turn out even better than my note suggests. Tasted two times. 96-98+ points" Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com------"A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot that weighs in at 13.3% alcohol, the 2025 Pontet-Canet is one of the finest wines this estate has produced. Wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet cassis, wild berries and plums mingled with notions of violet and burning embers, it's full-bodied, ample and velvety, with a degree of structural polish and sensuality that is rare in the Médoc, ripe acids and a long, penetrating finish. Over the last handful of years, technical director Mathieu Bessonnet and his team have revitalized Pontet-Canet's vineyards with well-timed soil work and precise phytosanitary treatments; and since 2023, the careful use of "pieds de cuve" in the winery, along with early blending, more refined barrel choices and cooler temperatures in the chai—plus more precise bottling practices—have conspired to take this estate to new heights of quality and consistency. In 2025, the team formed lower-than-usual "ponts" (whereby the canopies of adjacent vines are braided together in an arch) to retain denser foliage to protect the fruiting zone from sunshine, and they waited to pick late in pursuit of full maturity in Cabernet Sauvignon, finishing on September 23. The result is one of the wines of the vintage. 98-100 points" William Kelley, RobertParker.com |
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