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. Tasted two times. Drink 2033-2065. 96-98+ points Antonio Galloni

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 points James Suckling

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 fermenations and a long maceration to soften the tannis. 1% of Petit Verdot completes the blend. Ageing 40% new oak. Drink 2034-2055. 97 points Georgina Hindle - 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. Although there was some rain at end of June and July, this was still a dry vintage, and vineyard work including braiding the vines for shade and applying chamomile as sunscreen, so they coped better than in 2022 overall. Harvest September 2 to 23, indigenous yeasts that are specific to the vintage, 40% new oak, 35% clay amphoras, 15% one year old barrels. Extended maceration, low SO2 with zero added until after fermentation. Drink 2035 - 2055. 96 points Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux