Château Pontet-Canet 2021

A cool, classical Left Bank year. Spring frost and, through a wet summer, significant mildew pressure made 2021 demanding, and picking ran late — into October for the Cabernet — to reach full ripeness. Careful vineyard work was decisive in a season with little margin for error.

A fresher, more aromatic and elegant style than the ripe 2018–2020 run: lower flesh, higher lift, fine-grained tannin, and pronounced acidity. At Pontet-Canet the result is a perfumed, precise, distinctly Pauillac wine that trades power for tension.

Deep Günz gravel over clay and limestone.

~9,500 vines/ha, average vine age ~45 years, 92 blocks farmed and picked parcel-by-parcel; biodynamic, with no-till work aiding concentration.

Estate fruit from Pontet-Canet's single ~81-ha block, split between more Cabernet Sauvignon on the gravel nearer the château (by Mouton Rothschild) and more Merlot on plots closer to the river.

Hand-sorted, hand-destemmed fruit fermented parcel-by-parcel in wood and concrete vats without electricity or pump-overs; malolactic in vat.

About 50% new French oak, 35% amphora (900-litre estate-clay jars), and roughly 15% once-used oak.

Contains a little more Petit Verdot than usual for the estate; harvested 24 September to 12 October, the third consecutive vintage under mildew pressure but healthily managed.

vintage-specific blend · abv 13.1%