Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The blend of the 2016 Pontet-Canet is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Around 55% of the wine was aged in new French oak barrels, 15% in two-year-old barrels and 35% in cement amphorae for 16 months. Deep garnet-purple colored, it opens with opulent scents of plum preserves, spice cake, hoisin and crème de cassis with fragrant wafts of potpourri, wood smoke and rose hip tea. Medium to full-bodied, rich and decadent, with loads of spicy layers, it has a firm, velvety texture with great freshness and incredible depth, finishing very long and on a compelling mineral note.

James Suckling

The aromas of ripe blackcurrants, iodine, sweet tobacco and fresh flowers are spellbinding. Full-bodied with mouth-expanding, massive and natural tannins. Impressive fruit with hints of prunes. The finish is long and powerful. Needs six to seven years to soften and come together. Try from 2025.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

The Wine Independent

VertdeVin

The nose is fruity , elegant and offers a fine richness as well as a fine concentration. It reveals notes of fleshy blackberry and fleshy wild strawberry associated with fine touches of cassis, small crushed blue berries , liquorice , zan as well as discreet hints of spices and nutmeg . The palate is fruity , juicy , beautifully well-balanced , elegant , precise and offers a beautiful definition , dynamism , a beautiful fullness , a fine tension, a very beautiful finesse of the grain, a beautiful purity of the fruit, a good structure, suavity , a fine tension, gourmandize , a fine unctuosity , richness (but all in elegance /balance) as well as a fine fat. On the palate this wine expres s es notes of cherry, blackberry , fleshy raspberry and more slightly strawberry associated with small touches of cassis, blackberry , liquorice , chocolate as well as discreet hints of coffee and cardamom (on the finish). Tannins are elegant and structuring . Good persistence . A very beautiful wine !

Andreas Larsson - Tasted

Pure and modern nose displaying new oak, fine toast, caramel and coffee with bright dark fruit like cassis, blackberry, plum, with fine tobacco and stony notes. Very dense palate, intense and vigorous with fine freshness, layers of inky dark berries, liquorice, mocha and polished fine tannin. The finish is very dense, muscular and supremely long.

Wine Enthusiast

A voluptuous wine, this is rich and fruity yet properly balanced by a magnificent structure. Pure, crisp and packed with a black currant flavor, this will be a remarkable wine as it develops. Still young, it needs many years to develop. Don't think about drinking before 2025.

Adrian van Velsen - vvWine.ch

The Wine Independent

Vinum Wine Magazine

Galloni