Château Pontet Canet, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2012

Name: Château Pontet Canet, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac
Brand: Château Pontet Canet
Price: 787.07 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2011 2012 2015 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

justerini & brooks tasting note

Technical director, Jean-Michel Comme told us that 15% of the production will be aged in amphorae specially designed by the estate. The idea is to reduce the oak influence in the wine. Jean-Michel talks a lot about producing wines that conjure up emotion - he's certainly a philosophical wine-maker, and few can deny the results he and Alfred Tesseron have achieved at Pontet Canet. The biodynamic revolution is here to stay, even in challenging vintages like 2012. The harvest took place between the 4th and 17th of October. This is the sexiest and most sumptuous Pontet Canet we can remember tasting. It may not have the depth or class of the 2005, 2009 or 2010, but is charm personified. Perfumed, fragrant bouquet of wild strawberry, crème de cassis and raspberry liqueur. This is stylish, seductive stuff, with wave after wave of extravagant velvety fruit. Such purity and sweetness. Not the most profound Pontet, but utterly moreish and a wine you will want in your cellar.

critic reviews

91/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,The Wine Independent

The 2012 Pontet-Canet is medium to deep garnet colored. It has a lifted nose of fried herbs, redcurrant jelly, and raspberry leaves with hints of wet slate, tobacco, and charcoal. The palate is a little flat and tired, with dried berry layers, chewy tannins, and a slightly rustic finish. I've had better bottles recently.

DRINKING WINDOW 2022 - 2033

date of review 02/2023

88/100Neal Martin,Vinous

The 2012 Pontet-Contet is fleshy and more Right Bank in style than its peers with pure red fruit, leather and light sous-bois notes. The palate is medium-bodied with a bitter entry, plenty of bell pepper notes that feel just a little green towards the finish. This is the second time that I have tasted this Pontet-Canet blind, and I just don't find it successful compared to other vintages. Tasted blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting.

date of review 09/2022

91/100Jane Anson,Inside Bordeaux

Rich tawny plum, full of warmth in colour. We asked for a 2nd bottle of this wine during the tasting, so I should warn you there might be variation, and it was not the most successful in the lineup. This was the year that they stopped having the wine entirely aged in barrel (a mix of new and one year old). Instead they brought in 100 amphoras for 35% of the production, 900l in size and made from the clay of Pontet Canet. It clearly makes a difference to the expression, and there is a beautifully nuanced, finessed feel to the raspberry, black cherry and cassis fruits, studded with saffron and sage and still gently held in place by Pauillac tannins. It makes for an interesting study in a vertical but this is not the vintage that I would most recommend to people trying to understand why Pontet Canet reaches the heights that it does. Harvest October 4 to 11.

DRINKING WINDOW 2021 - 2040

date of review 10/2021

93/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Deep garnet in color, the 2012 Pontet-Canet gives up a profound earthy/savory 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, savory character in the mouth, finishing with lingering oolong tea and dried herbs notes.

DRINKING WINDOW 2020 - 2041

date of review 05/2020