Château Pontet-Canet 2025 en primeur

Deep dark ruby garnet, opaque core, violet reflections, delicate edge brightening. Delicate notes of candied violets, black cherries, some nougat, inviting hint of precious wood, multi-faceted bouquet. Juicy, elegant, ripe heart cherries, fine extract sweetness, ripe, silky tannins, freshly structured, mineral, blackberry confit in the finish, finesse-rich, harmonious style.

A precise and beautiful wine with total integration of the fruit and polished tannins that give a caressing and seductive mouthfeel. It’s medium-bodied with lovely fruit, a gentle nature and an overall softness and gorgeousness. Yet structured.

A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot that weighs in at 13.3% alcohol, the 2025 Pontet-Canet is one of the finest wines this estate has produced. Wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet cassis, wild berries and plums mingled with notions of violet and burning embers, it's full-bodied, ample and velvety, with a degree of structural polish and sensuality that is rare in the Médoc, ripe acids and a long, penetrating finish. Over the last handful of years, technical director Mathieu Bessonnet and his team have revitalized Pontet-Canet's vineyards with well-timed soil work and precise phytosanitary treatments; and since 2023, the careful use of "pieds de cuve" in the winery, along with early blending, more refined barrel choices and cooler temperatures in the chai—plus more precise bottling practices—have conspired to take this estate to new heights of quality and consistency. In 2025, the team formed lower-than-usual "ponts" (whereby the canopies of adjacent vines are braided together in an arch) to retain denser foliage to protect the fruiting zone from sunshine, and they waited to pick late in pursuit of full maturity in Cabernet Sauvignon, finishing on September 23. The result is one of the wines of the vintage.

Deep purple plum colour in the glass with earthy, blackcurrant fruit aromas. Crystalline and focussed, this is seamless and quite straight - tannins are fine but give a solid structure and edge to the wine with brilliant purity to the fruit. Excellent freshness but it’s more than just cool and pure, there’s perfect tension and weight, clarity and finesse with detail - sinewy, juicy, fresh, fragrant, cool and mouthwatering. Delicate and graceful with the power from ample tannins building afterwards full of liquorice, sticky cola, black chocolate, a dusting of espresso and tobacco. A very transparent expression of the vintage - not overly demonstrative but structured and fresh with a great promise of long ageing. 3.7pH. Harvest 2-15 September with indigenous yeasts and no sulphur usage for fermentations and a long maceration to soften the tannis. 1% of Petit Verdot completes the blend. Ageing 50% new oak, 35% amphoras and 15% one wine barrels.