Bright, full ruby. Pure, vibrant aromas of cassis, blackberry, blueberry, licorice, graphite and leather. Like liquid velvet on entry, then energetic and sharply delineated in the mid-palate, with penetrating minerality intensifying the pristine dark berry flavors. Most impressive today on the extremely long, perfumed finish, which shows suave, noble tannins and a magically light touch for such an intense wine. This wine is remarkably tastable today but it's also built for 30+ years of aging.

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Yields a bit more than in 2008, with more grand vin too. 81 ha total vineyards. This year they are trying for 24 ha articlesa20100402.html target= title= onclick=>by horse. They can’t tell us the alcohol but think it’s 13-13.5%.Very dark crimson. Firm and broad and very lively with real vibrant elderberry nose - there IS a bit of extra vitality in this wine! Very very nice and satisfying indeed. There is life to this and great breadth and depth. Intense richness that seems to come from the fruit rather than from winemaking. Something of Lafite’s complexity and integrity. Plus Mouton’s richness. Dry finish. Very well done. But it is not a wine you want to undertake young – still lots to sort out. Much less open than most. Dense – really quite dry on the end but appetising though very long term. Muscular. 

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An amazing wine in every sense, this classic, full-bodied Pauillac is the quintessential Pontet Canet from proprietor Alfred Tesseron, who continues to reduce yields and farms his vineyards biodynamically - a rarity in Bordeaux. Black as a moonless night, the 2009 Pontet Canet offers up notes of incense, graphite, smoke, licorice, creme de cassis and blackberries. A wine of irrefutable purity, laser-like precision, colossal weight and richness, and sensational freshness, this is a tour de force in winemaking that is capable of lasting 50 or more years. The tannins are elevated, but they are sweet and beautifully integrated as are the acidity, wood and alcohol (which must be in excess of 14%). This vineyard, which is situated on the high plateau of Pauillac adjacent to Mouton Rothschild, appears to have done everything perfectly in 2009. This cuvee should shut down in the cellar and re-open in a decade or more.

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This is amazingly expressive now considering how huge it is, with stunning espresso and warm fig confiture aromas followed by lush layer after layer of blackberry paste, cassis and plum sauce. A terrific loam underpinning strides in on the finish, which is weighty but sports serious cut. Equal parts fruit and earth.

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