2003 Pontet Canet

[JCNorthway]

It seems this has been a "controversial" wine among posters here over the years. Some felt it suffered from the hot growing season and lacked what one would expect from a Pauillac, and especially from this producer. I actually bought two cases of the 2003 because I could see that the price escalation was quickly putting it out of my purchase comfort zone. Since I still have about a case left, I took a bottle as a gift on a recent road trip to visit some former Chicago friends who recently moved to North Carolina. My friend, Tom, wanted to serve the wine at dinner with grilled lamb chops, and who am I to object.

Well, for my taste, this is quite a nice wine. And it's in a pretty decent place right now. It clearly possesses the aromas and flavors that I associate with a Pauillac profile. It still has abundant concentrated dark fruit, but it is not over-ripe, or over the top richness. I know there has been some concern about how the 2003's will age, if at all. All I can say is that at age 19, this wine has many years of life ahead of it. Based on this bottle, I am really looking forward to my remaining bottles.

[JimHow]

Thanks for the great report Jon.
This wine has had an interesting evolution, from big upfront fruit at the beginning, to an incredibly awkward incubation stage, to now what seems like a steady peaking. It was, of course, a BWE wine of the year. The 2003 left bank vintage has seemed to survive well over the past two decades, contrary to the concerns of many at the outset. I have a 3L of the 2003 Pontet Canet awaiting a future BWE gathering.

[JoelD]

I was Very pleasantly surprised by this wine last summer. Great fruit. Balanced and structured. It held its own at a table with 1993 haut brion, 1989 la conseillante and 1986 rauzan segla. Not saying it was as good as any of those but it was not severely outclassed at all. I would definitely buy some at the right price.

[Claudius2]

I still have one lonely bottle of this wine which I was - along with a few other wines - going to bring to Bordeaux in 2020.
In the meantime it is in storage and I’ll leave it there for the time being.

I for one find this a challenging wine to comprehend. I really liked it when I first tried it, thus I bought 13 bottles (the retailer threw in a free bottle which I drank on delivery) but I have not liked it much since, and it never really tasted like Pauillac to be honest.

[marcs]

I was Very pleasantly surprised by this wine last summer. Great fruit. Balanced and structured. It held its own at a table with 1993 haut brion, 1989 la conseillante and 1986 rauzan segla. Not saying it was as good as any of those but it was not severely outclassed at all. I would definitely buy some at the right price.

I think I remember that night. To me it was pretty significantly outclassed. The 93 Haut Brion and the 86 Rauzan Segla blew me away

[JimHow]

Ian is not a fan of this wine.
We had it with Alfred Tesseron at the estate among other vintages in 2015.
It was pretty flaccid. I've heard better reports of it, like Jon and Joel's, since then.
It was a beast upon release but soon turned into a disjointed, unbalanced, floundering blob.
Reports following its hibernation phase have been mixed.

[robert goulet]

I purchased a three pack...tried one out the gate and told myself >do not open another for 20yrs

[DavidG]

I agree with Jim. Great on release, suffered a long period of disjointednes, and emerged to become a very enjoyable drink but not one that evoked classic aged Bordeaux-ness. I enjoyed them for what they were but gave up on them developing true Bordeaux magic. Finished the case about a year ago.

[AKR]

I had the 2003 in January, pretty solid, better than the middling food at our neighborhood venue

[Dandersson]

I missed when 2003 came out (2005), It was a busy year for me, was writing and defending my thesis then moved to Prague. Recently, I had d'Armailhac and Ormes de Pez from 2003, of course not as great as I would guess Pontet Canet to be, but I really enjoyed both of them a lot.

[JimHow]

Yes, the northern Medoc seemed to do well in that year.

[JoelD]

I was Very pleasantly surprised by this wine last summer. Great fruit. Balanced and structured. It held its own at a table with 1993 haut brion, 1989 la conseillante and 1986 rauzan segla. Not saying it was as good as any of those but it was not severely outclassed at all. I would definitely buy some at the right price.

I think I remember that night. To me it was pretty significantly outclassed. The 93 Haut Brion and the 86 Rauzan Segla blew me away

Who knows, maybe I was just high on the Haut Brion. The way that slowly unfurled was amazing and the Segla was a lean beast. I would definitely try it again though. I preferred the 03 pontet over the 03 Cos for sure.

[Nicklasss]

I was Very pleasantly surprised by this wine last summer. Great fruit. Balanced and structured. It held its own at a table with 1993 haut brion, 1989 la conseillante and 1986 rauzan segla. Not saying it was as good as any of those but it was not severely outclassed at all. I would definitely buy some at the right price.

I think I remember that night. To me it was pretty significantly outclassed. The 93 Haut Brion and the 86 Rauzan Segla blew me away

Who knows, maybe I was just high on the Haut Brion. The way that slowly unfurled was amazing and the Segla was a lean beast. I would definitely try it again though. I preferred the 03 pontet over the 03 Cos for sure.

Agree that the 1993 Haut Brion is a great 1993.

The only time i had the 2003 Pontet Canet is when i brought a bottle at Jal's 2006 pool party. But i also brought a 1990 La Conseillante at that same time... so i'll let you guess which was the best wine, and by a long distance...

[JoelD]

I think I remember that night. To me it was pretty significantly outclassed. The 93 Haut Brion and the 86 Rauzan Segla blew me away

Who knows, maybe I was just high on the Haut Brion. The way that slowly unfurled was amazing and the Segla was a lean beast. I would definitely try it again though. I preferred the 03 pontet over the 03 Cos for sure.

Agree that the 1993 Haut Brion is a great 1993.

The only time i had the 2003 Pontet Canet is when i brought a bottle at Jal's 2006 pool party. But i also brought a 1990 La Conseillante at that same time... so i'll let you guess which was the best wine, and by a long distance...

Well I was luckily able to acquire a well stored bottle of the 93 recently, if you ever make it back down to the states I'll try to save it for you

I know you love the 90 La Conseillante and I certainly did too. Tough call between that and the 93 Haut Brion. I do believe the 90 La Conseillante is a bit better for my tastes than the 89 though.

[AKR]

I missed when 2003 came out (2005), It was a busy year for me, was writing and defending my thesis then moved to Prague. Recently, I had d'Armailhac and Ormes de Pez from 2003, of course not as great as I would guess Pontet Canet to be, but I really enjoyed both of them a lot.

I would think the 03 Ormes de Pez would have been quite awesome. All those estates on clay soils did great in that glorious hot year. I can't remember if I had that or not, but I think I bought/drank nearly every St Estephe that I saw that year...

[Claudius2]

Yes, the northern Medoc seemed to do well in that year.

Jim
I agree that the Northern Medoc did better, particularly the wines that are grown on heavier soils, though I was re-reading some notes I posted about them 11 years ago, partly to recall what I said and to jog my memory.

Over the years, I have consistently written that 2003 in Bordeaux is a problem vintage and whilst it may suit the palates of some reviewers and bloggers, the structure of the vintage always worried me. I have now drunk the 2003 PC on at least a dozen occasions and the only time I actually liked it, was when I pulled a few corks on it soon after arrival in Australia. It was never a classic Bordeaux style but it was a powerful and quite interesting wine. I took it to a few local tastings and events and it was well received.

Part of my concern about 2003 mirrors the same concerns for Australian wines from the 2001 and 2003 vintages - particularly in the warmer South Aust areas like Barossa, McLaren Vale etc - where the heat took its toll. Seriously, I like Australian reds and still drink them but I cannot cope with those vintages per se, nor the huge, high alcohol wines that started emerging in the 90's. Wines like Shirvington, Greenock Creek and several others chased hi RPJnr points AND they succeeded brilliantly, getting lots of high points.

In 2022, I am now entirely convinced that extreme weather is anathema to fine wine. I was in Europe in the 2003 vintage - it was really hot even during the vintage and Lafite reported maximum temps of over 115F (47C odd) and it is a miracle anyone could make decent wine then. Yet I had seen this style of wine in Australia as well, and by the time I actually tried the 03 Bordeaux (2006) the hot vintage Australian wines were already falling apart. Once the fruit density subsided, the drinker was left with alcohol, tarry dried out fruit and coarse, bitter tannins.

So when I started trying the 2003s, I hoped that they would not develop like the hot vintage Aussie wines, and maybe a few managed to avoid the hot style, possibly the cooler clay soils in the northern Medoc may help - but I soon started to regret buying them (at least in any quantity).

I should say that I bought a LOT of 2003 Medocs on EP and with a few exceptions, sent the entire lot (about 12 cases) to auction, and took a loss on them as I sold when they were still quite young. My move to Singapore (2009) was coming and I opted t sell rather than the vagarities of shipping from Australia to here.

cheers
Mark

[Comte Flaneur]

Ian is not a fan of this wine.
We had it with Alfred Tesseron at the estate among other vintages in 2015.
It was pretty flaccid. I've heard better reports of it, like Jon and Joel's, since then.
It was a beast upon release but soon turned into a disjointed, unbalanced, floundering blob.
Reports following its hibernation phase have been mixed.

The 2003 Pontet-Canet is my last remaining 2003, the only 2003 of which I have not sold the full stash. This is not just out of due deference to our BD (…only partly…) and despite having sold considerably more 2003s than drunk. Last time I tried it I thought it was better than I expected though it is still somewhat disjointed, and far from harmonious. But it seems to have emerged from its most discombobulated phase. It still has the bright fruit on the entry.

[Antoine]

Had a superb Branaire Ducru 2003 recently. Mature, resolved, velvety. balanced... really enjoyed...

[AKR]

I pulled a couple of those yesterday from storage, which also deterred me from thinking about buying more wine of any ilk.

[JimHow]

I pulled a couple of those yesterday from storage, which also deterred me from thinking about buying more wine of any ilk.

Pulling two bottles of 2003 Pontet Canet from your cellar deterred you from thinking about buying more of any ilk?

[AKR]

no I pulled a couple 2003 Branaire, but the general concept is that when I see all the items that are offsite, it has some deterrent value against future purchases. I only go there about once a quarter.

On the bright side, I found something I had been looking for, and had previously grabbed a (wrong) similar item.

I really want to get rid of all the various storage units I have for various things of all kinds.

[Claudius2]

Arv
Yeah when I visit the two rented storage units I realise that there is no point buying any wine for a long time and in the apartment, I have two overloaded wine fridges plus various cases of wine stacked up in my office.

I am going to need to rent another unit when the 2019 Bordeaux En Primeur purchases turn up. I suppose I can at least unload the wines in my office that way. Oh well.

Cheer
Mark

[Jay Winton]

The year of incredible heat in Europe. Thousands died including many in non air conditioned nursing facilities-never saw much investigation of this calamity. So, I wasn't enthusiastic about this vintage in Bordeaux.

[DavidG]

Arv
Yeah when I visit the two rented storage units I realise that there is no point buying any wine for a long time and in the apartment, I have two overloaded wine fridges plus various cases of wine stacked up in my office.

I am going to need to rent another unit when the 2019 Bordeaux En Primeur purchases turn up. I suppose I can at least unload the wines in my office that way. Oh well.

Cheer
Mark

Ahhh, the pending 2019s… I have some drinking to do before they arrive.