2025 Chateau Pontet-Canet Pauillac FUTURES Prearrival

A blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot that weighs in at 13.3% alcohol, the 2025 Pontet-Canet is one of the finest wines this estate has produced. Wafting from the glass with aromas of sweet cassis, wild berries and plums mingled with notions of violet and burning embers, it's full-bodied, ample and velvety, with a degree of structural polish and sensuality that is rare in the Médoc, ripe acids and a long, penetrating finish. Over the last handful of years, technical director Mathieu Bessonnet and his team have revitalized Pontet-Canet's vineyards with well-timed soil work and precise phytosanitary treatments; and since 2023, the careful use of "pieds de cuve" in the winery, along with early blending, more refined barrel choices and cooler temperatures in the chai—plus more precise bottling practices—have conspired to take this estate to new heights of quality and consistency. In 2025, the team formed lower-than-usual "ponts" (whereby the canopies of adjacent vines are braided together in an arch) to retain denser foliage to protect the fruiting zone from sunshine, and they waited to pick late in pursuit of full maturity in Cabernet Sauvignon, finishing on September 23. The result is one of the wines of the vintage. ~98-100 Wine Advocate

A precise and beautiful wine with total integration of the fruit and polished tannins that give a caressing and seductive mouthfeel. It’s medium-bodied with lovely fruit, a gentle nature and an overall softness and gorgeousness. Yet structured. ~97-98 James Suckling

Deep purple-hued, the 2025 Château Pontet-Canet showed beautifully both times I tasted it, with incredibly classic Pontet-Canet notes of cassis, violets, iris, and gravelly earth and graphite. Based on 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, it's being raised in 50% new barriques, 35% concrete amphora, and 15% once-used barrels. It's rich and concentrated on the palate, with medium to full-bodied richness, ripe, building tannins, nicely integrated acidity, and a layered, elegant mouthfeel. Checking in at 13.3% alcohol with a pH of 3.7, it brings a balanced, structured, beautifully classic style with terrific elegance and a beautiful floral character. ~96-98 Jeb Dunnuck

Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2025 Pontet-Canet leaps with bright, bold notes of warm cherries, cassis, and blueberry pie, followed by hints of garrigue, violets, and crushed rocks with a touch of tilled soil. The medium-bodied palate is bursting with energetic black fruit and minerally sparks, framed by very firm, grainy tannins and bright acidity, finishing long and earthy. The blend is 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot. It is aging in 50% new French oak barrels, 35% amphorae, and 15% used barrels. ~96-98 The Wine Palate

The 2025 Pontet-Canet is a wine of exquisite class. Silky, aromatic and vibrant, the 2025 is all finesse. Crushed red/purplish fruit, lavender, rose petal and a gentle hint of spice are all wonderfully knit together. Pontet-Canet is one of the more refined, sublimely beautiful wines of the year. This could turn out even better than my note suggests. ~96-98 Vinous Media

Deep purple plum colour in the glass with earthy, blackcurrant fruit aromas. Crystalline and focussed, this is seamless and quite straight - tannins are fine but give a solid structure and edge to the wine with brilliant purity to the fruit. Excellent freshness but it’s more than just cool and pure, there’s perfect tension and weight, clarity and finesse with detail - sinewy, juicy, fresh, fragrant, cool and mouthwatering. Delicate and graceful with the power from ample tannins building afterwards full of liquorice, sticky cola, black chocolate, a dusting of espresso and tobacco. A very transparent expression of the vintage - not overly demonstrative but structured and fresh with a great promise of long ageing. 3.7pH. Harvest 2-15 September with indigenous yeasts and no sulphur usage for fermentations and a long maceration to soften the tannis. 1% of Petit Verdot completes the blend. Ageing 50% new oak, 35% amphoras and 15% one wine barrels. ~97 Decanter

Inky but vivid bright plum colour, tannins at the front of the mouth, a ton of energy, if reserved at this early stage. Expect graphite and crayon, lovely lift and floral Cabernet Sauvignon character; low yields like much of Pauillac and small berries ensuring the tannins are plentiful. Walks the line of fresh and juicy flavours alongside a brooding concentrated architecture, huge ageing potential with cold ash and gunsmoke nuance. ~96 Jane Anson