Grand Cru Classé

Although Justine Tesseron declined my request for a tasting at the estate, I was able to acquire a bottle of the 2020 Pontet-Canet for review. The wine starts strong, wafting from the glass with attractive aromas of cherries, sweet berries and plum jam mingling with lilac and licorice, but this is followed by a medium-to-full-bodied, firm and extractive palate that lacks the richness and flesh to conceal the rather drying tannins that dominate the earthy finish.It is an open secret among Bordeaux insiders that this estate, which has benefited from such significant and laudable investment and which was on such a steep upward trajectory until 2011, has had a bafflingly inconsistent performance since 2012, mixing successful vintages with relative failures, and the 2020 only confirms this. Although the 2020 is by no means a flawed wine and time will be kind to it, it does not surpass the status of this estate's fifth growth, even though the terroir of this château clearly has the potential to do so.