2010 Chateau Pontet-Canet Pauillac Grand Cru Classe Bordeaux 750 ml

The last time we were in Bordeaux visiting Pontet-Canet, we were so taken with the experience that we extended a long-shot offer: We would be happy to host a tasting to share their wines and stories with a small group, if the family was ever going to be in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The following year, proprietor Alfred Tesseron and his daughter Justine (manager of the property) visited for a private tasting with a few Wine Access members from the Bay Area. We tasted through the back vintages as the family regaled the crowd with stories about how they elevated Pontet-Canet to the level of the First Growths. 

Having changed hands only twice over two centuries, Château Pontet-Canet boasts a rare ownership legacy in Bordeaux. But it was the leadership of current proprietor Alfred Tesseron that has cemented its place in the pantheon of the best properties of Pauillac. 

“Throughout history farmers have been laboring, innovating, to get the most fruit possible from their land. All that interests me is what we need to do to get the best quality,” he told us. 

To that end, he converted their farming to organic, and later biodynamic practices, and noticing a better concentration of flavors in the fruit as the years went on. His innovations didn’t stop in the vineyard. 

Alfred first converted to a gravity-fed facility, avoiding the use of pumps that can extract astringent seed tannins. He installed a double sorting line to ensure that only pristine berries make it into the must, and Alfred himself designed cement vats and amphorae for fermentation, drawing upon the gravel from the vineyards themselves to mix the cement, infusing the winery with the property’s terroir.