TN: 2011 Château Pontet-Canet (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac)

  • 2011 Château Pontet-Canet - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
    I got a late en primeur delivery of these wines and decided to open one to see how it’s going … Decanted and drunk over two days, I was a little disappointed. A rich, slightly cooked fruit, bouquet of plums, red liquorice, cassis and milk chocolate. There’s a lot of vanillin oak, on the quite lactic, slightly confected, nose. Also, it’s presently not a lot of fun to drink. It’s pretty shut down. Cassis and dark fruit with that lactic, chocolatey element. A sweetish edge. Simultaneously seeming both tending overripe and a little underripe. Rich unctuous fruit but with some bell pepper, minty greenness. Not very concentrated. Also harsh tannins on the finish. I recently tried the 2008 Pontet-Canet blind and although it was very structured and closed, I could see it having a future (like for the 2009 and 2010, although I’ve had them less recently), while I’m a lot less confident about this vintage. Anyway, give it 7-10 years, perhaps it’ll come together. (89 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

The winemaker who made the Pontent Canet wines of the 90s, the ones that made the reputation of this chateau, moved on to Phelan Segur…a real QPR

Hi Howard, thanks for the note, not very appealing tbh.

My last bdx vintage was 2009, mainly for actuarial reasons. 2010 prices were too high for me and after that I gave up entirely on the whole bdx EP process. Not that I am exactly short of bdx in the cellar anyway

Cheers Brodie

Mel, thanks. This 2011 showed a clear Michel Rolland imprint I thought.

Brodie, I think I stopped Bdx EP in 2012, which is enough for me, for similar reasons. 2009 was a good vintage to stop for PC, I think. The 2010 PC was a very impressive wine when I tasted it at a PC vertical tasting, but it was as hard as nails, a real 50 year wine.

Mel,
Most of the great Pontet Canets were made by Jean-Michel Comme in the 2000 decade, and Pontet Canet’s reputation has risen during his tenure. A committed bio-dynamicist, and one of the most passionate winemakers I have ever met, he made brilliant wines in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010 and almost brilliant in 2008. The 2011 was an outlier, and while I have admired many of his previous wines, when we tasted the 2011, it seemed to be several steps below his previous efforts.

Thanks for the appraisal of the 2011. It is a weak vintage and that probably comes out in the tasting. I stopped buying Bordeaux with the 2010 so the 2011 is a non-issue for me.

Mark,
The guy i am thinking of has a name like cou cou lu…He moved to Phelan Segur some time at the beginning of this century and then retired around 2010. These wines have gotten excellent reviews and they have been well priced. I bought the 2008 for a song. Jancis rated the 2012 with the same score she gave Lafite, so i went out and bought six bottles of Phelan Segur for the price of an airplane bottle of lafite…ok, maybe a half bottle.

I thought the 03 P-C I had recently was delicious as well.

It is tough to drink a seven year old Bordeaux. IMO, 2011-13 are the right bank vintages, especially the 2013.