2012 Ch Pontet-Canet, Pauillac, 5ème Cru

Chateau Pontet-Canet produces what many people call the most popular and in-demand Bordeaux wine of the appellation. 

Pontet-Canet is a Bordeaux powerful wine. It’s concentrated, balanced, tannic and charming as well.The recent success is due to the current management of the estate by Alfred Tesseron who is helped by the director, Jean-Michel Comme. 

As was the custom of the day, Chateau Pontet-Canet found the inspiration for its name from its lineage. The estate took the first part of its name from a former owner, who was also the royal governor of the Medoc, Jean-François de Pontet. Like many owners during the early 18th century, Pontet enlarged his Bordeaux vineyards with purchases of additional Pauillac vineyards.

Several years after Pontet’s death, his descendants continued to buy Pauillac vineyard land, including a famous section from the Canet area. Once the combination of his name and the land were put together Pontet-Canet became and remained one of the largest Bordeaux wine producing estates in the entire appellation.

Pontet Canet was granted Fifth Growth status in the 1855 classification. The most important Bordeaux negociants of the day, Herman Cruse, purchased the estate in 1865. The Cruse family owned Pontet-Canet for 110 years, until another negociant, Guy Tesseron, acquired it in 1975. In fact, Chateau Pontet-Canet has only belonged to three families in over two centuries. That is quite a rarity in Bordeaux!