Tasted blind as a vintage comparison at the Valandraud vertical, the 2009 Pontet-Canet is a wine that I have tasted several times throughout the year. Here, it is clearly bestowed a very powerful and intense bouquet with raspberry jam, boysenberry, graphite and cold, wet limestone aromas - very well defined and focused, the oak seamlessly integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, crisp acidity, in a funny way more like a 2010 towards the finish thanks to its structure. It still feels quite backward and with much more to give, a sense of coiled up energy conveyed upon the extremely persistent finish. It remains a deeply impressive Pauillac with decades ahead of it. Tasted December 2016.