Wednesday Wines – Episode 261 – 2024 Château Pontet-Canet En Primeur

2024 Château Pontet-Canet (5ème Cru Pauillac)

52 Cabernet Sauvignon, 43 Merlot, 4 Petit Verdot, 1 Cabernet Franc: 50% new oak, 35% goes in concrete amphoras, 15% one-year-old barrels: 13% alc: Harvested between 26 September to 11 October

The first topic of conversation at the handful of biodynamic-specialist estates in this troubled year is how on earth they managed to stay sane in such a challenging vintage.  After tasting this wine, my next question was, how was it possible to make such a deliciously welcoming, mellifluous and complete wine?  I am pleased I didn’t bump into the Tesserons or their dedicated crew during the growing season because it must have been hard for them not to break down and cry!  Of course, the mildew pressures were extreme in the early part of the year, and they were required to carry out a record-breaking 31 spraying trips through the vines!  That said, total copper was managed carefully at 5.7kg.  The viti-team worked from 4 am until 9 pm protecting the vines, and while this must have felt like hell, one sip of this perfectly balanced wine ought to quieten some of the less pleasurable memories of their travails.  Vine age, healthy cover crops and sheer determination prevented the worst ravages of mildew. By the time harvest came, the heart of the vendange (7th – 9th October), in particular, rewarded the crew with superbly ripe fruit.  They finished one week later than most on the 11th of October and, like many, admittedly lost some berries to botrytis, but this long hang time engendered a much-needed boost of ripeness in the grapes.  Analysis shows there is not one trace of ‘bot’ in the wine, and this is not surprising because it is gleamingly fresh and pure.  Pontet-Canet used their wooden ‘eggs’ for the first time in this vintage (see my photo) and with gentle pumping over and no pigeage, this is a wine born of infusion, not force.

The twin themes of Cabernet and Merlot combine beautifully here in a harmonious, silky wine that already shows uncommon balance and precocity.  While the humans might have been stressed, 2024 Pontet-Canet is nothing of the sort.  If prices relax, as was hinted, I can see this being a no-brainer to purchase because it will drink early and hold well, thanks to its innate balance. As always, the flavour and stance that Pontet-Canet delivers are all its own, and fans will be delighted here.   Medium-weight, sensual, and haunting, this is a classic case of years of experience paying off, coupled with deep-seated trust in one’s terroir and those hard-working people looking after it.  18.5/20

(£360 In Bond per case of 6 bottles, from all good wine brokers & specialists.  In my opinion, this is not as keen a price as I was hoping for to generate genuine excitement, resulting in a stampede of keen customers – which is a vital ingredient in this year’s campaign.)