I am referring here to the Fifth Growth Bordeaux, Pontet Canet (PC), a wine that has risen to prominence in the international Bordeaux markets over the last 10-12 years. Best of all, it sports the balance and depth of a First Growth while priced at a fraction of the price. An added advantage for those starting or building their Bordeaux collection, is that this wine, with proper storage, offers the aging potential for a good 20 years!

First a little history on the estate. Jean-Francois de Pontet, the royal governor of the Medoc on the left bank of the Gironde, combined several plot of vineyards in the Pauillac region in the 18th century. Many years later, his descendents added still more vineyard land in Canet. Fast forward to the 19th century when the infamous 1855 Bordeaux classification recognized Pontet Canet as a worthy addition to the elite. It wasn’t long before Hermann Cruse, a key Bordeaux shipper, purchased the estate in 1865, infusing large amounts of money into the winemaking facilities and building a highly respectable estate. For the next 110 years, the Cruse family owned the estate, selling it in 1975 to, ironically, another shipper, Alfred Tesseron, whose sons now run the estate.

Chateau Pontet Canet is located just a stone’s throw from the famed First Growth estate of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. This in and of itself offers some insight into the terroir that supports the renown quality of the vines in that region. The gravelly and sandy soils, warm, well drained and laying upon limestone bedrock, while portraying the illusion of inhospitality are, in fact, a perfect host for the vines.

The vineyard is populated by vines that average 35 years of age, with the Cabernet Sauvignon vine predominating. As is typical in Bordeaux, the Cab is subsequently blended with Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The owners describe their approach as so detailed as to be familiar with nearly every vine on the estate. Following an environmentally safe approach to vineyard management, chemical weed killers are banned. Intervention in the vineyard is kept to a minimum and when necessary, relies upon organic support for nutrition (ie fertilizers).

The harvest process is very labor intensive at the facility, detailed attention paid to how the grapes are transported from vine to sorting table and then to the crushing vat. It is this focus and dedication that has translated into the tremendous growth in quality of the wine over the last decade. Once the uncrushed grapes are placed in concrete vats along with indigenous yeast, they are allowed to undergo a natural gravity fermentation without the mechanical pressure of pumping. The extraction process results in a slow fermentation, allowing the grapes to express their best of their color and tannins in the juice. There are 32 such vats, each temperature controlled. The large number of vats allows each plot of vineyard to be fermented separately, thus allowing for a unique expression of terroir and grapes. In the end, the winemaker will titrate the final blend with finesse to produce the best possible wine and subsequently transfer the final product into oak barrels to age for between sixteen and twenty months.

Pontet Canet is a classic Medoc Bordeaux. Its deep, black currant color hints at its structure and depth. The wine displays a bouquet of black currant, licorice, fig and cedar. It is a powerful yet exquisitely elegant wine, displaying a perfect balance of fruit, acidity and tannins, the classic recipe for an age worthy wine. Since the mid 1990’s, Pontet Canet has been on an upswing in quality, something not lost on savvy wine collectors nor retailers. Priced in the $30’s in 1995, these same wines now run between $70 and nearly $100. I still have a few 1995’s and 96’s sitting in my cellar. The 2005 vintage, one of the best in recent years is priced between $90-110. In fact, during the height of the Bordeaux “chase” in late 2007 and early ’08, this wine topped out at around $160. So why collect Pontet Canet?

First of all, let’s go with the assumption that the wine is for future consumption and not auction purposes. You have the opportunity to collect a top flight Bordeaux with a well recognized dedication to quality for a “relatively” affordable price. While I fully recognize that $70-100 is not cheap, compare the 2005 pricing with that of its immediate neighbor, First Growth Chateau Mouton Rothschild……~$500.00. Now clearly, the Mouton Rothschild has auction capability. But if your goal, as is mine, is to consume the wine at some future date, the PC is a top notch wine to put away.

The wine is readily accessible from a variety of sources with over 20,000 cases produced annually. I have spotted Pontet Canet in one Tucson retailer so I would expect that others are capable of ordering the wine as well. My suggestion would be to check with your favorite retailer(s). By the way, the 2006, ’04, ’03, ’02, ’00 and 1995’s are top flight as well (although the ’05 may still prove to be the best). Happy collecting!

Tags: 1855 Bordeaux Classification, aging, Bordeaux, Bordeaux blend, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, collection, extraction, fermentation, Fifth Growth, First Growth, Medoc, Pauillac, storage, tannins, terroir, Tesseron, yeast