PONTET CANET [PAUILLAC] 2007 750ML

Wow. Minerals, cedar, almost like warm stones in the heat. And then some spice. A wine that’s gorgeous, beautiful to taste now, but you know there’s so much more coming to it. Will be better in three to five years. But it’s already gorgeous—decant a couple hours in advance.

Slowly the potential of this impressive wine is coming out. It is rich, the new wood flavors blending with the ripe blackberry sweetness and tight tannins. Chocolate flavor power through this concentrated wine. *Top 100 Wines of 2010.

From the infamous vintage where the estate was forced halt their push towards biodynamic certification due to an outbreak of rot in the vineyard, the 2007 Pontet Canet is nevertheless a fine effort and made in a more medium to full-bodied, elegant, silky style. Spice box, cedarwood, black cherries, and currant-like fruit notes all emerge from this charming, lightly textured Pauillac that has light, fine tannin, and a beautiful finish. It’s aging nicely and ready to go, yet will certainly keep for another decade.

Deep ruby-red. The nose shows an almost exotic ripeness but also a high-pitched quality to the aromas of fruitcake, graphite and spicy oak. Dense and intensely flavored but at the same time quite juicy and penetrating, with terrific lift to its dark fruit flavors. An out-performer for the vintage, this rather powerfully structured wine has a serious spine for aging.

On tasting, the 2007 Pontet-Canet has an upfront bouquet with (for the vintage) quite lavish red and black fruit tinged with violet and creme de cassis. The palate is sweet and opulent, displaying impressive concentration and a velvety blueberry and black cherry finish that lingers long in the mouth. You would never ascribe this to the 2007 vintage, a Pontet-Canet determined to overcome the limitations of the growing season. In a sense, it succeeds, yet it must sacrifice some of its Bordeaux typicité in the process.

Currant and dark licorice aromas follow through to a full body, with velvety tannins and a caressing finish. A beauty. Best after 2013.