*This is a BHW Direct Import/Ex-Chateau item.This is a futures item that is expected to deliver in 2021. You will be charged ground shipping at the time of purchase. We may charge an additional shipping fee at the time of shipment. This wine is only available in 6 bottle increments.
Reviews
The 2018 Pontet-Canet is a freak of nature. Dark, rich and explosive, the 2018 possesses off the charts richness and concentration, much of it coming from tiny yields of just ten hectoliters per hectare, or one third of a normal crop. The 2018 soars out of the glass with stunning aromatic intensity and depth. Black cherry, gravel, grilled herbs, leather, lavender and menthol stain the palate. Dense and hedonistically ripe, the 2018 is a stunningly beautiful wine. The grapes were crushed by hand. Because of the tiny yields, the entire production was vinified in Pontet-Canet's new smaller concrete vats. All winemaking was done manually, without the aid of external temperature control or electricity. The 2018 is aging in a combination of 55% new oak and 45% terra cotta amphora. Quite simply, I have never tasted anything like it. ~96-99VM
A bright and open young wine with polished and soft tannins that spread out and fold into the wine, becoming barely discernible, yet the feel and beauty of them frames the wine in a beautiful way. Love the fruit and purity.~97-98 JS
The blend of the 2016 Pontet-Canet is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Around 55% of the wine was aged in new French oak barrels, 15% in two-year-old barrels and 35% in cement amphorae for 16 months. Deep garnet-purple colored, it opens with opulent scents of plum preserves, spice cake, hoisin and crème de cassis with fragrant wafts of potpourri, wood smoke and rose hip tea. Medium to full-bodied, rich and decadent, with loads of spicy layers, it has a firm, velvety texture with great freshness and incredible depth, finishing very long and on a compelling mineral note.
The 2018 Pontet-Canet is made up of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. Picking began on September 24 and finished on October 5; aging is in 55% oak barriques and 45% amphorae. Very deep purple-black in color, it comes rolling sensuously out of the glass with all the opulence and seduction of Cleopatra on a carpet. It emerges with flamboyant scents of crème de cassis, preserved plums and blueberry compote, and after a few moments, it bursts with nuances of molten licorice, sandalwood, Chinese five spice, candied violets, dark chocolate and dried roses, followed by underlying earthy suggestions of fallen leaves, black truffles, underbrush and wild sage. Full-bodied, wonderfully dense, rich, impossibly layered and very, very decadent, the palate delivers all it promises on the nose, with a firm, wonderfully velvety frame and finishing with epic length, a scintillating wave of freshness and a beguiling perfume. This is one for true hedonists.
“We did something wrong,” Alfred Tesseron admitted to me during my visit, in reference to their lamentably small yields for 2018. “We have to say it. 2018 is not like any vintage we’ve done before. It’s unique. To us it is very special—I can say in every way. I am not proud of the quantity, but I’m proud of the wine.” Production is down to about one-third of a normal year, at a painfully small ten hectoliters per hectare. This was largely due to the very wet, warm start to the growing season, which caused mildew to spread throughout the vineyards in Bordeaux like wildfire. Followers of Pontet-Canet will not need to be reminded that the vineyard is 100% biodynamic. This means that it is not impossible to combat disease outbreaks, but with the subtler means that are permitted, the margin for error is very, very small. After the early-summer bloodbath in the vineyard, Pontet-Canet did everything in their power to ensure that the quality of what little remained, remained high. From practically cradling the hand-harvested grapes as they came into the winery in tiny picking bins, to hand sorting and even hand destemming, using specially designed equipment first developed and used at Tesseron’s boutique estate in Napa, Pym-Rae. “We used only the small fermenters this year,” he went on to tell me. “No pump-overs. Very gentle extraction—very gentle pigeage. So gentle a child could do it—but we don’t use children. Not yet!” He laughed. At least he still has his sense of humor. And he’s got a very little bit to sell of a 2018 wine that is, in the end, quite extraordinary.
~ 97-99, WA
This wine is densely textured in rich tannins and beautiful fruit. Flavors of black currant and blackberry are there along with the solid structure that will allow the wine to age. This biodynamic wine has low yields in 2018 because of mildew, but what has been made is impressive and long lasting.~ 96-98WE
Deeply colored, the 2018 Pontet-Canet checks in as a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot that was destemmed by hand, fermented all in concrete tanks (punch downs only) and is still aging 55% in new French oak and the balance in concrete amphoras. It's an incredibly rich, opulent, and plush Pontet-Canet that offers loads of black and blue fruits, licorice, crushed violets, and graphite aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, powerful, beautifully textured and layered, it's reminiscent of the magical 2009 with its rare mix of both hedonistic and intellectual pleasure. Unfortunately, the estate was decimated by mildew in the spring and lost a full two-thirds of their total production. ~96-98JD
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