Pauillac · vintage 2012
Château Pontet-Canet 2012
Ageing potential20 ans et +
Why this vintage
- 97/100 from Wine Enthusiastand 6 other scores above 90/100.
- The 2012 vintage in PauillacA late cycle closing with rain gave an uneven vintage: the cabernets hold up, the merlots remain taut.
- Ageing potential20 ans et +
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Critic scores
- Wine Enthusiast97
- James Suckling95
- Decanter95
- Wine Advocate93
- Vinous93
- Wine Spectator92
- Jeb Dunnuck91
The 2012 vintage in Pauillac
Vintage benchmark: 85/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)
Vintage character: A late cycle closing with rain gave an uneven vintage: the cabernets hold up, the merlots remain taut.
Overall reading of the year’s season across Pauillac. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.
Tasting
Couleur d'un pourpre tirant sur le noir. Le nez très complexe possède un caractère vibrant où dominent entre autres, des notes de violette, de mûre, de groseille et de cerises. La bouche est toute en harmonie avec une structure d'une droiture et d'une longueur impressionnantes. C'est dense et aérien à la fois. Sûrement le plus grand Pontet-Canet de l'ère moderne!
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Blend of the 2012 vintage
- 65 % Cabernet-sauvignon
- 30 % Merlot
- 4 % Cabernet franc
- 1 % Petit verdot
Shares for this vintage, as recorded on the 2012 technical sheet. The vineyard itself is planted with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot — a vintage blend departs from the area under vine as the year dictates.
Figures from the 2012 sheet
- 14 % vol.Alcohol
- 34 hl/haYield
- 42 yrsVine age
- 250,000 bottlesProduction
Winemaking
Les vinifications durent en moyenne plus de quatre semaines, mais varient en fonction du cépage, de la parcelle d’origine et de l’âge des vignes.
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Ageing
Le vin est ensuite directement écoulé en barriques, pour un élevage qui dure seize à vingt mois selon le millésime. Le nombre de barriques neuves n’excèdent pas les deux tiers.
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Terroir
The lands of Château Pontet-Canet lie at the heart of the Pauillac appellation, south of the neighbouring vineyards of Mouton Rothschild and d'Armailhac. Here it is the poverty of the soil that serves as the matrix for the greatest crus. The soil appears to be composed of nothing but gravel and sand, and it is hard to imagine that the vine can grow there. The 80 hectares of the Pontet-Canet vineyard are dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, the well-known signature of the great wines of Pauillac. The terroir of Pontet-Canet consists of a rise of Garonne gravels over a limestone bedrock. It is a lean, warm and free-draining soil.
An offer on Château Pontet-Canet 2012
Availability, allocations and terms: the Compagnie Médocaine will reply promptly. The estate and vintage are already filled in in the message.
Texts and documents 2012
The texts below copy in one click for your product sheets, catalogues and social channels. The printable sheet condenses the whole page onto a single A4 page.
Visuals
This wine’s visuals are grouped in the media library. High-definition packshots, labels, back labels and lifestyle photos are reserved for clients and partners, on the Compagnie Médocaine’s VinCod media library.
Sheet checked on September 21, 2026. Technical data: the estate’s VinCod sheets. Critic scores: sources cited above, with their date. Vintage benchmarks and character: Compagnie Médocaine’s own editorial read. Soils and relief, where shown: the Compagnie Médocaine’s parcel survey and the Mapbox/IGN terrain model.