"One cannot say enough about the labors of proprietor Alfred Tesseron, who has personally overseen the dramatic increase in quality of the wines at Pontet-Canet which started in a significant manner with 1994. This is a classic Pauillac-styled wine (meaning oodles of cassis flavors), as one might expect from a vineyard on the plateau of Pauillac, across the street from Mouton-Rothschild."

Ruby-red. Roasted blackberry, coffee and mocha on the nose, along with a grapey quality. Fat, superripe and sweet; wonderfully full, sexy and broad. Just this side of exotic, but sound natural acidity gives shape to the thick, mellow dark berry and chocolate flavors. Finishes with substantial tannins and resounding length. This will be drinkable several years earlier than the 2005.

This vintage, which may be a little uneven in Pomerol and St. Emilion, is going to rate as very good to excellent in Pauillac as it does in neighboring St. Julien. We taste Chateau Lynch-Bages at 88-90 points and rate its local peers even higher in this vintage with Pontet-Canet jumping out at 89-91 points and Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste in the same range.

Rating: 94/100 - As reviewed by Wine Spectator on 03/31/2006