Chateau Pontet Canet Pauillac 2000

Very intense color. The very powerful nose features an excellent balance between fruit (blackberry, raspberry) and wood (licorice, 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.

Critical Acclaim

94 James Suckling

A lovely lead-in of singed cedar and vanilla notes gives way to slightly taut, racy red and black currant fruit flavors that drive nicely through an iron-edged finish. Rather sleek and tightly focused, relying more on minerality than power.2000 Bordeaux blind retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2023.

92 Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

Tasted at the Pontet-Canet vertical, the 2000 Chteau Pontet-Canet is perhaps where things start getting interesting, as Alfred Tesseron’s top-to-toe reconfiguration of the vineyard and vinification began to impact and ameliorate the wine. It has a lovely bouquet of blackberry and briary fruit, hints of black truffle developing, later damp earth. There is an intensity here, if not the complexity of the best millennial Pauillacs. The palate is medium-bodied with a mixture of red and black fruit, cedar and sous-bois percolating up through and rendering it a “serious” Pontet-Canet in keeping with the vintage. There is a subtle and yet insistent grip on the finish. It has always been a tannic wine, but these are now softening, albeit at a slower pace than some might like. Therefore, I might be inclined to hold on to bottles for another 3-4 years. Tasted February 2016.

92 Wine Spectator

A lovely lead-in of singed cedar and vanilla notes gives way to slightly taut, racy red and black currant fruit flavors that drive nicely through an iron-edged finish. Rather sleek and tightly focused, relying more on minerality than power.2000 Bordeaux blind retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2023.

90 Wine Enthusiast

This is a very modern style of wine, with generous new wood and super-ripe fruit flavors, balancing with polished solid tannins. Very international in style, it is good, but could come from anywhere.