Château Pontet-Canet: available vintages, prices and pairings

Vintages on the price list

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The château

A large vineyard in a single block, next to Mouton Rothschild. The Tesseron family has owned it since 1975. The estate is farmed biodynamically, certified since 2010; horses plough part of the vineyard.

Mostly cabernet sauvignon, merlot, a little cabernet franc and petit verdot. Like Lynch-Bages, a fifth growth the market pays for at second-growth prices. Ready at around ten years, it holds for thirty. Second wine: Les Hauts de Pontet-Canet. The appellation's other châteaux are on the Pauillac wines page.

The 81 hectares look out over the Gironde estuary. The heart of the vineyard, the “Plateau”, is a rise of Günz gravel sitting on a limestone base; some of the vines at the top date from the late 1940s. Near the village of Le Pouyalet, the more limestone and clay soils suit merlot. 2005 was the year of the great drought: the château speaks of “legendary tannin”, high alcohol and fine acidity. 2016 had more than three hot, dry months from July. In 2018, a year of heavy losses, all the grapes were sorted and destemmed by hand.

What to serve it with

• A vintage fifteen years old or more: game (wine with game), slow-cooked shoulder of lamb (wine with lamb).
• A younger vintage: grilled rib of beef (wine with beef), duck breast (wine with duck).
• With cheese: aged hard cheeses (wine with cheese).

Which vintage for which occasion

For someone who likes organic or biodynamic wines, a classified growth that is both. For a birthday, the year of birth, if the table has it (birth-year vintage). For client gifts, in a wooden case (year-end client gifts).