2000 Chateau Pontet-Canet 5eme Cru Classe, Pauillac

Château Pontet-Canet, a Pauillac Cinquième Grand Cru Classé, is deeply anchored in Garonne gravel over a clay-limestone subsoil, a terroir fundamentally suited for Cabernet Sauvignon of profound structural definition. The 2000 growing season, following a challenging early period of mildew and a cool, damp early summer, benefited immensely from a sustained hot and dry August through mid-September. This environmental trajectory facilitated physiological ripeness, concentrating phenolic compounds and leading to thick-skinned grapes with notably high levels of extract. Under Alfred Tesseron's developing influence, meticulous vineyard stewardship and traditional vinification in conical wood and concrete tanks captured the vintage's inherent power. The resulting wine is architecturally formidable, presenting a dense mid-palate and a significant framework of ripe, yet insistent tannins that required extended cellaring for full integration.