2015 Chateau Pontet-Canet Pauillac
Quick Description
- "A 5th Growth Pauillac That Can Perform Like a 1st Growth" ~WS
- "A Superb Wine With Great Fruit. Real Bordeaux" ~98 JS
- "Absolutely Stellar. Totally Inviting, 2015 Is All Class." ~97 VM
- 95 Point "Outstanding" Vintage ~ Vinous Media
- Free Shipping on 6 or More Bottles

2015 Chateau Pontet-Canet Pauillac
- "A 5th Growth Pauillac That Can Perform Like a 1st Growth" ~WS
- "A Superb Wine With Great Fruit. Real Bordeaux" ~98 JS
- "Absolutely Stellar. Totally Inviting, 2015 Is All Class." ~97 VM
- 95 Point "Outstanding" Vintage ~ Vinous Media
- Free Shipping on 6 or More Bottles
About the Wine
The name Pontet-Canet doesn’t just echo through the halls of Bordeaux—it commands attention. From its origins under Jean-François de Pontet, the royal governor of the Médoc, to its current reign under the brilliant Guy Tesseron, this château has undergone a transformation of mythic proportions. Once just a name in Bordeaux’s lineup, Pontet-Canet now rivals the best of the best, delivering wines that critics insist are on par with 2nd and 3rd Growths—but at a fraction of the price.
With the Tesseron family’s visionary touch, Pontet-Canet has become an absolute powerhouse, alongside their other prestigious holdings like Château Lafon-Rochet in St-Estèphe and Pym-Rae in Napa Valley, previously owned by the legendary Robin Williams.
Guided by Jean-Michel Comme, one of Bordeaux’s finest oenologists, and bolstered by biodynamic, sustainable farming, Pontet-Canet has become a darling of wine critics and connoisseurs worldwide. Wine Spectator raves: “This fifth-growth Pauillac performs like a first-growth, with pure, rich Cabernet fruit that’s deeply concentrated.”
Nestled just 800 meters from the iconic Château Mouton Rothschild, Pontet-Canet’s 200-acre vineyard sits on the fabled “plateau”—a terroir of Garonne gravel soil from the Günz era, underpinned by limestone bedrock. This is not just any vineyard. This is where Bordeaux’s elite wines are born.
And the 2015 vintage? It’s nothing short of legendary. Joining the ranks of Bordeaux’s most revered years, such as 1959, 1982, 1996, 2009, 2010, and 2018, the 2015 Pontet-Canet is poised to rewrite history. This is a wine that demands a place in your cellar—and a place in the history books.
Aging: 50% of the 2015 Pontet-Canet was aged in new French oak, while 15% was matured in second-fill barrels and 35% in cement amphorae.
Tasting Notes
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.
See Critical Reviews for detailed tasting notes.
Critical Reviews
So much floral and dark-fruit character with almonds and walnut shells. Full body and ultra-fine tannins. Powerful. Classic style with harmony and energy. Goes on for minutes. A superb wine with great fruit. Real Bordeaux. Try in 2025. ~98 James Suckling
Proprietor Alfred Tesseron and winemaker Jean-Michel Comme produced an absolutely stellar Pontet-Canet in 2015. Sumptuous, racy and totally inviting, 2015 is all class. Super-ripe dark cherry, plum, spice and exotic floral notes build as the 2015 shows off its alluring personality. Even with all of its raciness, the 2015 speaks with authority and power. Fine tannins extend the persistent, highly nuanced finish. The 2015 is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, aged 50% new oak, 4% in terra cotta and 15% in neutral oak. Tasted three times. ~ 97 Vinous Media
A vindication of Jean-Michel Comme’s obsession with detail. A true Pauillac powerhouse, exploding with aromas of wild blackberries and Lapsang Souchong tea before the voluptuous, expressive palate unfolds. Peerless definition and gravitas, but have patience. Part matured in amphora. ~97 Decanter
Deeply colored, initially you notice Cuban cigars, eucalyptus, coffee bean, flowers, blackberries, and cassis. On the palate, the wine is rich, plush, and polished with an opulence to the texture. The fruit is packed and stacked with wave after wave of mouth-coating fruits that paint every nook and cranny of your palate. There is fabulous sweetness, lift, and depth. There is no touch of heat. Even with all of this power, the wine is balanced. Completely effortless to drink, this is already sublime in your glass. But, give it a few more years in the cellar and it is only going to get better and better. An interesting point, 2015 marks the first vintage without a second wine, allowing you to experience the totality of what the entire 81-hectare vineyard produced. The wine blends 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, 13.5% ABV. Drink from 2025-2060. ~97 The Wine Cellar Insider
Succulent fruits, rich tannins and juicy acidity are in perfect harmony in this wine produced from biodynamic grapes. It has a rich, velvet texture and dense structure, sumptuous and already balanced and delicious. However do not be fooled, this is a serious wine for aging. Drink no earlier than 2026. ~97 Wine Enthusiast
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2015 Pontet-Canet comes charging out of the glass with fantastically expressive notes of black cherry preserves, black raspberries and blackcurrant pastilles plus touches of kirsch, wilted roses, tobacco, camphor and cinnamon stick with a waft of fragrant soil. Full bodied, the palate is laden with black and red fruit layers, supported by very firm, very finely grained tannins and provocative freshness, finishing with incredible length and stunningly perfumed. ~97 Wine Advocate
Dark ruby, purple reflections, delicate edge brightening. Finely spiced dark forest berries, nuances of blueberry and blackberry mingle with the typical cassis nuances, tobacco and herbal spices, tiny animalistic hints. Complex and full-bodied, ripe black cherry, fine, very well integrated tannins, juicy and with a pleasant freshness. Combines finesse with power, here you can feel the polish of the amphorae for the first time. 2015 is the year in which the caesura in the vineyard really arrived in the wine for the first time, and from now on no more second wines were produced. ~96 Falstaff
The 2015 Pontet Canet is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot brought up in 50% new oak, and 35% in amphora. With textbook Pauillac notes of lead pencil shavings, tobacco leaf, smoke, and licorice, as well as a core of pure crème de cassis fruit, this beautiful, full-bodied, impeccably balanced is one of the few 2015s that’s going to demand cellaring. The tannin are high, yet sweet, and like its bright acidity, nicely integrated into the wine. Forget bottles for 5-7 years and enjoy over the following three decades. I don’t put this as the level of the 2009 and 2010, but it’s still a beautiful wine. Tasted three times. ~95+ Jeb Dunnuck
Vibrant plum colour, followed by spiced plum on the nose, more exotic in its range of flavours and silky texture than many vintages, still powerful and in its primary fruit phase. This is a gorgeous wine, hard to argue with, showing estate character over appellation or vintage. The tannins are softer at this stage that you will find with the 2016, even the 2014, but there is so much pleasure in the glass, and it will power ahead for decades. Harvest September 18 to October 3. This was the vintage where Tesseron decided to make no more Les Hauts de Pontet, with everything going either into the first wine, or declassified, as he felt both that the vineyard had reached the level he wanted, and also that philosophically that he wanted the wine to be a true reflection of the whole vineyard. ~95 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux
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2015 Chateau Pontet-Canet Pauillac
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