2005 Château Pontet-Canet - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (11/15/2024)
Enjoyed this wine very much 3 1/2 years ago at the 2005 vintage tasting in Atlanta, but this bottle is not showing well at all. Very pruney and hot on the nose, strong coffee profile pops through after a while. Deeply dark on the palate, ripe black fruit, good grip on the tannins but still with plenty of high-abv heat. In-your-face modern, which was not my experience years ago with this wine, so that's unfortunate. Not 'flawed' necessarily but definitely too modern for my taste.
If it improves with air/time, I'll revisit the note, but this doesn't seem likely to suddenly gain complexity and elegance.
I’m reminded by the 2005 Bordeaux at-release tasting that @Matt_Richman organized in NYC year ago.
At that time, the 2005 Pontet Canet was one that I didn’t purchase but with the tasting I was so impressed with it that I made plans to immediately surf the internet for good prices. The escalated pricing of 2005 Bdx then didn’t encourage me to pull the trigger.
Dang, that’s unfortunate, Todd. To offer a glimmer of hope, maybe (if you want to see it, I suppose): in 2021 I opened a half bottle of 2010 GPL that shared some of the same negative attributes you saw with your '05 PC. Then, earlier this year, I opened another bottle, and it had improved markedly. Both GPL and PC are Pauillac, and both from big/structured vintages. Soooooo … possibly some hope there for you? Maybe …
This is my last bottle of six, I enjoyed it much more in previous years, I don’t understand how it would get worse, more pruney, but that’s what it is. At least I enjoyed five of them.
It’s a shame. I loved the bottle I drank in ~2018 and bought a case of 6 which I have tried two from, both in 2024, and my experience entirely echos yours. I’ll hold onto my remaining 4 for a bit longer, as drinking them as they are is a crying shame.
