My first 1991 Bordeaux ever, decided to open this single bottle of Pontet Canet over a week-day dinner at home, and am now almost a bit proud of having posted the first tasting note on this particular 90s vintage of Pontet Canet. Bottom neck fill, cork almost entirely soaked. PnP. The color starts with a nice surprise: a medium garnet to the rim, no signs of browning or bricking. Very pretty nose with forest floor, berries, cedar and potato chips. While the palate has good weight and a nice balance it falls a little short relative to the nose. Nice dark fruit, leather, forest floor but also that slight bitterness that is there from the very beginning and does not go away with more air. Short to medium finish. Tastes like a wine that had been fairly heavily extracted, but still the balance was maintained and hence is drinking very well at age 23. It's also the kind of wine where you always like to go back for another glass as it does not tire you and your palate out. Personally I enjoy this 91 more than their 86 a couple months back. Given how difficult the 91 vintage must have been, this is a very respectable effort, and another proof to me that PC did not raise like Phoenix from the ashes in the early 2000s under Alfred Tesseron (as often portrayed) but some really high quality work had been done actually much earlier than this.
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4/22/2024 - sempervinum Likes this wine: 90 Points
Thick black with a brown rim. Mushrooms, dried fruit, earth. Appealing. Intense attack in the mouth. Thick. Perfectly melted tannins. Great.
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3/13/2014 - pavel_p Likes this wine: 89 Points
My first 1991 Bordeaux ever, decided to open this single bottle of Pontet Canet over a week-day dinner at home, and am now almost a bit proud of having posted the first tasting note on this particular 90s vintage of Pontet Canet.
Bottom neck fill, cork almost entirely soaked. PnP. The color starts with a nice surprise: a medium garnet to the rim, no signs of browning or bricking. Very pretty nose with forest floor, berries, cedar and potato chips. While the palate has good weight and a nice balance it falls a little short relative to the nose. Nice dark fruit, leather, forest floor but also that slight bitterness that is there from the very beginning and does not go away with more air. Short to medium finish.
Tastes like a wine that had been fairly heavily extracted, but still the balance was maintained and hence is drinking very well at age 23. It's also the kind of wine where you always like to go back for another glass as it does not tire you and your palate out. Personally I enjoy this 91 more than their 86 a couple months back.
Given how difficult the 91 vintage must have been, this is a very respectable effort, and another proof to me that PC did not raise like Phoenix from the ashes in the early 2000s under Alfred Tesseron (as often portrayed) but some really high quality work had been done actually much earlier than this.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment