2009 Château Pontet-Canet

Fruitcake nose. Quite obvious alcohol. Distinctly chewy and spicy and pretty chewy on the end. I wonder when it will mellow? Seems much more backward than its peers. (JR)

At 11 years old this remains young, textured, layered, powerful, even a touch of gunsmoke reduction on the first nose. As it opens, this is fruit-forward, packed with sweet black cherry, juicy and fleshy laced with cinammon, aniseed and graphite, ready to drink but will go another few decades. Brilliant stuff, full of Pauillac character but served up with a smile. The estate was in organic conversion at this point, not yet certified, but had been working organically allmost entirely since 2004 (with the 2007 hiccup that meant resetting the conversion process). Served from a jeroboam, so inevitably a little younger than you would find this vintage from a bottle.

A consistently perfect wine every time I've had it, the 2009 Château Pontet-Canet is the greatest wine from this address to date as well as one of the greatest Pauillacs out there. Still youthfully ruby/purple and with a gorgeous perfume of blackcurrants, lead pencil, graphite, crushed rocks, and damp earth, it's still youthful but is just now starting to show more nuance and complexity. Full-bodied on the palate, with a powerful, concentrated mid-palate, incredible depth of fruit, and flawless balance, Bordeaux simply does not get any better. You couldn't have too much of this in the cellar, and this magical wine is going to drink brilliantly for another 50 years or more.