Notes from a dinner tasting of Ch. Pontet Canet,
We were hoping to have Alfred Tesseron with us in Vancouver to share our experience, but the untimely death (at age 65) of his brother Gerard prevented that.
This 5th growth has definitely gone through some changes. It was much lower profile during the Cruse years (1865 – 1975), often making unremarkable wines, including a non-vintage wine for the French railway. One experienced taster indicated to us that there had been some notable highlights in vintages like 1945, 1959, 1961 and1962, but generally speaking the property, which is well located with excellent terroir, did not really distinguish itself in those years. Considered in competition with some of the other aggressive Paullac 5ths like Grand Puy, Lynch Bages, Clerc Milon and Armailhac it has really been no contest.
Sadly, even when taken over by new management in 1975, there was no quick turn around and the latter part of the 70s and much of the 80s were basically wasted time. It was only quite recently in the 90s that things seemed to get back on track and the wines became something to seek out, especially at the prices, which were rather good compared to some of the other Pauillacs. Our tasting spanned this latter period with the intention of seeing just what was happening with this property. The 2005 unfortunately stayed in France with M. Tesseron, as did the 2005 Hauts de Pontet Canet, - it would have been interesting to compare the second wine with the grand vin..
We started off with some bubby to calibrate our palates – a 1996 Nicholas Feuillatte Grand Cru Cramant Brut – a great all round bubble with surprising complexity in the nose at this age and fresh and crisp on palate. Matched with bacalua fritters, a sushi assortment, tuna tartare, and smoked salmon mousse.
With a very nice dish of roasted garlic flan with morel mushrooms topped with crispy prosciutto:
1999 – some obvious wood in this nose, along with good fruit and hints of cassis. A fair bit of soft tannin on palate, and ample fruit, with a medium length. Certainly no rush – this drinks surprisingly well now.
2001 – vanilla and rich fruit in the nose, perhaps a tad jammy, and excellent flavour concentration and length. This will improve with cellaring.
2002 – totally different nose on this one. Lighter colour and a softer wine, although the tannins are there lurking in the background. Despite the tannins, I just can’t see this as a classic vin de garde – I just don’t detect enough fruit to carry this one long enough for it to make old bones when the tannins have abated.
I noted that the use of oak on the 2001 and 2002 was a bit heavy handed – probably a pretty dark toast. Trying to be something they shouldn’t be, perhaps?
With grilled beef tenderloin and bordelaise sauce:
1995 – a big wine with a hint of cassis in the nose, full flavoured, long and smooth – quite supple. This one is just starting to show its stuff and has a god life ahead of it.
1996 – spicy sweet fruit nose from a dark wine with good legs. This is still quite tannic and stands well above the 1995 in quality. Unlike the 2002, it shows ample fruit and should be very good when it comes into balance with a bit (well, OK, maybe a lot) more time.
With lamb short loin with pumpernickel rosemary crust:
1989 – colour getting a bit pale but not too bricky. mellow mature nose showing some interesting secondary characteristics, although there were hints of an herbaciousness - green hints that I wasn’t fully onside with. It had good acidity and decent length and should be drunk now.
2000 – dark with a spicy currant, vanilla and smoke nose, not too tannic and drinking quite well now and over the next few years, I should imagine. Nice wine.
With cheese:
2003 – currant and a hint of anise on this nose, an impressive wine with a rich sweet entry and fairly soft tannins already. This one would be hard to stay away from but should continue to develop for many years.
2004 – some deep fruit here, if you try hard enough, but not much else in the nose at thios point. Hard to read – lots of tannin and acidity nothing has started to come together yet.
Conclusions? Well, this property has benefited, as have many, from the ministrations of Michel Rolland and the vinification techniques have been updated, and the owners now seem to be concentrating on upgrading the quality of their wine (some would say it is about time). Definitely a wine to watch, and to collect, at least until the prices catch up with the quality.