2003 Château Pontet-Canet - Pauillac (1.5L)

Very intense colour. The very powerful nose features an excellent balance between fruit (blackberry, raspberry) and wood (liquorice, toasty notes). On the palate, the attack is full but very mild. This wine stands out with its fine length and imposing structure ? a characteristic of great Pauillacs - made up of extremely smooth tannins. The finish shows no trace of aggressiveness and is very long.

Very concentrated nose of blackberries, licorice and smoke, turning to flowers. Full-bodied, very rich and powerful with massive tannins, but it finishes sweet and ripe. This is muscular, but then it turns to crushed fruit. Superseductive. Best Pontet I have ever tasted. Score range: 95-100

A closed, austere wine; more solid than fruity, showing very firm tannins. There is a pronounced smoky character as well, with cigar box aromas and toasty flavors. What is certain is that this wineâ??racy and not too heavyâ??will develop slowly.

One cannot say enough about the labors of proprietor Alfred Tesseron, who has personally overseen the dramatic increase in quality of the wines at Pontet-Canet which started in a significant manner with 1994. This is a classic Pauillac-styled wine (meaning oodles of cassis flavors), as one might expect from a vineyard on the plateau of Pauillac, across the street from Mouton-Rothschild. One of the great successes of the vintage and certainly one of the most profound Pontet-Canets made over the last decade is the 2003. Deep purple to the rim with a glorious nose of scorched earth, black currant jam, smoke, licorice, and roasted meats, it is full-bodied, incredibly powerful, dense, with low acidity but high tannin, broad-shouldered, and savory. This is a stunning, pure, classic Pontet-Canet that should be at its best between 2010 and 2035.