Château Pontet-Canet has only been owned by three families since it was created at the beginning of the 17th century.
The property was established by Jean-François de Pontet, the King's equerry and subsequently the governor of the Médoc. Some years later, his descendants enlarged the vineyard with parcels from a locality known as Canet. Classified in 1855, the property was purchased in 1865 by Herman Cruse, a well-known Bordeaux wine merchant, who developed an international reputation for its wines. The property has belonged to the Tesseron family since 1975. Guy Tesseron supervised a substantial modernisation of the facilities, and of the vinification techniques. Today, it is his sons, Alfred and Gérard Tesseron who manage the property.
In the heart of Pauillac, the 80 hectares of vines, neighbouring Mouton Rothschild and Armailhac, are planted on a hilltop of Garonne gravel and sand. The vines are tended and then harvested with meticulous care. Canopy management operations are reduced to their simplest form, and the manual harvests are carried out using small crates that are tipped directly onto the sorting table. The new vat room, inaugurated with the 2005 vintage, is located below the sorting tables. The grapes are thus vinified by gravity, without excessive handling that could damage them. Vinification is carried out in low volume vats, again enabling very refined plot-by-plot management for the entire vineyard. The wines are then aged for 16 to 20 months. Ageing takes place in oak barrels, two-thirds of which are renewed each year. Château Pontet Canet's wines have all the characteristics of great Pauillacs: a bouquet of dark fruit, dominated by blackcurrants, with notes of liquorice and cedar, sometimes underscored by a touch of cocoa. Powerful, yet elegant, this is a wine to be laid down for many years in the cellar.