28 May 2020

07.07.2020 Update: We have now sold out of our first and second tranche of Pontet-Canet, but have a small amount of stock available at a third tranche price of £875 IB per dozen bottles.

 

Château Pontet-Canet released their 2019 at an astonishing first tranche price of just £730 per dozen bottles.  This compares with £1035 per dozen for the 2018 and £1370 in 2016.   

In 2018, owner Alfred Tesseron demonstrated both his integrity and a flair for responding to his market by releasing at a low price.  In that vintage he lost two-thirds of his crop to hail damage at the beginning of the growing season.  The price of this new release - 31% below the 2018 and just over half the price of the 2016 - makes it less expensive than the 2013 release.  

We have not yet tasted cask samples, but our negociant contacts tell us they tasted samples on Monday and found it a 'huge' wine, with impressive aromatic complexity and fine tannins.

The 2019 was matured 50% in new oak barrels, 15% in old oak and 35% in 'dolia' (concrete eggs made especially for Pontet-Canet, with soil and rocks from the estate's terroirs incorporated into them).  The blend this year is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. 

Tesseron's reasons for releasing at this superb price will no doubt become clearer in time.  Perhaps his commitment to biodynamics makes him responsive to the larger environment in which his wines are released.  Whatever the reason, this is a release not to be missed and we recommend you place your order as soon as possible to secure this exceptionally good value wine for your cellar.

Offered En Primeur, landing Spring 2022.

 

 

Producer Profile

Château Pontet-Canet, Cru Classé Pauillac

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.