April 21, 2024 - Drank blind paired with RdV Lost Mountain 2009, Pontet Canet was more structured, tighter compared with the opulent in your face RdV, but after decant and clearly second day was a great wine with currants, blackberries, graphite, cedar, long finish
April 13, 2024 - Perfekt
April 11, 2024 - I must admit, this has finally aged. However, it does fizzle out in 3 hours. Which means, this is it. To me, this is at peak. Drink it and enjoy the rich, St. Emilion like vibe via Pauillac. Drink...
April 6, 2024 - Really wonderful. Drinking above my previous expectations. The most amazing thing was that it stood up to and followed a 1985 Petrus and a 1996 Lafite!! In terms of value obviously it shined. Smooth. Silly. Long finish.
March 23, 2024 - In a great place right now. Did not need a decant, but I decanted it for 3 hours at cellar temperature.
Blackberry, cassis and a bit of graphite on the nose. There is a hint of oak in the form of baking spice. Medium-bodied, medium minus tannins and medium acidity. Paired with braised beef, mashed potatoes and pan sauce as well as salad. Long finish.
March 11, 2024 - What Canet say, regrettably young, fruit is lush on the nose, extraordinary roasted berries, dried lavender, kind of a soupy anise, with a dab of petrichor. Pomegranate on the lips, weighty black cherry, very brambly and high toned, elegant dry stones, tannins are still quite pronounced but are very ripe and finely grained, bouquet is still emergent and just edging on secondary, so much unresolved life left in this, incredibly polished. 95 now, but in 10 years easily 96-100. If you have only one wait at least 5 years more.
March 10, 2024 - Nose: black berries, warm, intense, liquorice, pencil, kirsch
Palate: cassis, chocolate, liquorice, kirsch
Tannins: high, astringent
Acidity: high, somewhat irritating
The nose has changed considerably over time. Intense berries at the beginning, rather soft after 6 hours.
Undoubtedly a great wine that I opened far too early, I know.
Still,:100 points from Parker? Hmm, not for me today - and I can't imagine how it will get there. I rate it a 92.
Good for me: this was the first of 24 bottles and the anticipated drinking window is another 40 years.
opened: at 14 degrees
decanted: 3 hours, tasting notes after 6 hours
Pairing: veggie shepherd's pie (worked well) and ex-wife
Price: $ ~185 (subscription), now 340 at my wine shop
March 9, 2024 - Popped and poured around 2 ounces late afternoon before a lengthy decant, the wine at first was almost undrinkable. Very ripe and tart, it gave me a sense of some of the recent lower scores on CT.
Amazingly at the 4 hour mark the wine started to transform into a most memorable experience.
Appealing to most of the senses, the nose reminded me of a damp, dark forrest. The color was a mesmerizing opaque garnet, offering hints of the amazing quality of the grapes. By the 5 hour mark the wine was in sync, giving up notes of dark chocolate, baking spices, cassis, black cherry and a pleasant hint of sweet plums. Surprisingly opulent for a 2009, the PC absolutely lived up to my expectations.
The key to this vintage is patience, not only in the cellar, but most definitely in the decant time. Such a wonderful experience that brought me to a place where my senses were sublimely rewarded.
March 6, 2024 - Pontet Canet 2009 vs 2010. The 2009 vintage (91pts) is characterized by its intense fruitiness, which I find slightly overpowering and the fruit is a bit too ripe. Aging it for another decade might mitigate some of its pronounced baby fat, though I wouldn’t hope for significant change. On the other hand, the 2010 vintage (94pts) stands out as the superior choice. It boasts a vibrant freshness, a more defined structure, and a wide range of ripe yet fresh fruit flavors. Both wines are so distinctive that during the blind tasting, none of the participants were able to identify it as a 2009/2010 and as left bank Bordeauxs.
TN: The wine is dominated by a range of ripe to very ripe fruit flavors. While these are less evident on the nose, they become more pronounced on the palate, accompanied by some earthy and mineral notes. However, the focus primarily remains on the fruit at this stage. The fruit comes across as slightly too ripe, and the wine seems a bit over-extracted, a trait it shares with many others from the 2009 vintage. Despite this, the quality of the tannins is notable, and a substantial level of acidity prevents the wine from becoming overly heavy or sweet. It is a good wine but not one that will appeal to traditionalists.
Decanting: Decanted for 3+ hours which seemed fine.
March 5, 2024 - Parker 100 pointer theme dinner with friends, powerful, rich, v good, drank with the 2010 which most preferred, still young