Steve Mitchell

9.2

Drink now or cellar. This is an elegant, velvety, Pinot that never disappoints. — a month ago

Freddy R. Troya

9.0

Château Fourcas Dupré – 2021
Listrac-Médoc – Bordeaux, France 🇫🇷

Overview
A Left Bank classic from Listrac-Médoc, where gravelly soils meet clay-limestone for structured, age-worthy wines. The estate’s V.2021 blend is comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon 54%, Merlot 45% and Petit Verdot 1%. 2021 was a challenging, cooler vintage, producing fresher, leaner profiles with elegant structure.

Aromas & Flavors
Black cherry, cassis, and blackberry, layered with notes of cedar, tobacco leaf, graphite, and a hint of violet.

Mouthfeel
Medium-bodied with firm yet polished tannins, good freshness, and a mineral-driven edge. This vintage leans more classic and restrained compared to riper recent years.

Food Pairings; Roast lamb with rosemary, duck breast, entrecôte bordelaise. Beef stew, cassoulet, mushroom ragout. Tomme de Savoie, aged Gouda, firm sheep’s milk cheeses.

Verdict
A terroir-driven Médoc showing the cooler vintage’s hallmark freshness and precision. While not as plush as warmer years, it’s beautifully balanced, approachable now, and may develop nicely over the next decade. Cheers!

Did You Know?
Château Fourcas Dupré traces its roots back to 1843 and has long been a benchmark for the Listrac-Médoc appellation, often referred to as the “Pomerol of the Médoc” thanks to its higher Merlot proportion compared to its Left Bank neighbors.
— 8 months ago

David Walser

9.6

100 points???…I don’t think so…but very nice. I bought at the Treasury employee store to celebrate the purchase of our home in Saint Helena. We closed on the last day of November and had dinner with our friends and new neighbors. Had side by side with the 2016 BV Private Reserve which I scored 95 points. — 4 years ago

Heather Rostker

9.6

Wonderful Cabernet with some great company! Smooth and elegant. — 4 years ago

with Mary and Dave

Pam Kershaw

9.0

2020 Christmas gift from neighbors. Rick and I both like it a lot. Fuller than most pinot noirs (good thing) but lighter than most cabs...closer to a blend. — 5 years ago

Andrew Lohse

9.0

Very few accessible nebbiolos are as consistently magical to me as examples from Valle d’Aosta and Alto Piemonte. This local clone, Picotendro, shows super alpine and earthy here, with a clarity of red fruit that ties the palate together. Significantly more restrained than its southern neighbors. For <$25 just simply gorgeous. — 7 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.2

More berry/cassis than leafy herbal Margaret River style - touches of capsicum though. Very enjoyable but I don’t know whether I would pick this as Margaret River in a blind tasting. Medium bodied but M+ intensity. Nearby neighbors of some of the big name producers without the price tag. Tasted another bottle 43 weeks later on 7th February 2020 with similar notes but showing more Margaret River herbaceousness. Excellent QPR for a Wilyabrup Cabernet Sauvignon. 92 points. Tasted another bottle on 19th March 2022 with consistent notes. Pretty much a typical Wilyabrup Cabernet Sauvignon. 3 bottles left. Tasted another on 3rd February 2023 with consistent notes. Had this with pasta. I didn’t think that was a good food/wine match but it worked perfectly. Tasted my 2nd last bottle on 28th June 2023. Certainly not a typical herbaceous Margaret River Cabernet. More cassis and blackberry like a South Australian Cabernet. — 7 years ago

Brandon Thiessen

9.5

Bright, lively, beautiful. Strawberry balsamic. Dill, herbaceous. Unfined. Whiff of asphalt. Deeply complex. — 3 months ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.2

E Guigal produces fine Rhône wines. Dark Ruby color with aromas of berry fruit and earthy spice. On the palate flavors of black cherry and blackberry with cedar, cacao and earth notes, vivid acidity nice structure. Fine tannins, long finish ending with fruit and spice character. Good now will cellar well, a bargain compared to its Hermitage neighbors. — 2 years ago

Joshua Fisher

9.3

Says ‘Sample’ Nice being neighbors with randy Dunn — 3 years ago

Paul T, Missing My Beautiful Wife 24/7

9.5

Lunch 🥪

K&L notes as follows, Grand Pontet is an interesting property, positioned in the neighborhood of other stars of the appellation such as Châteaux Canon, Beau-Séjour-Bécot and Clos Fourtet. It is, however, a small estate, a mere 14 hectares, and its prices are much better than some of its more prestigious neighbors. In 1980 it was purchased by Gerard and Dominique Bécot, owners of the neighboring Beau-Séjour-Bécot. They have applied the same high standards to both Châteaux in their possession, and their winemaking team crafts Grand Pontet alongside the Beau-Séjour-Bécot wines. Recently purchased in 2021 by Domaines Clarence Dillon (Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion, et al.), the property was combined with and incorporated into Château Quintus. Full-bodied and luscious, this Grand Pontet is laden with ripe blackberry fruits, savory tobacco, licorice notes, and ripe, softened tannins. It’s seamless and bold, not shy. It’s going to require something decadent to pair with, such as filet mignon or some other black-tie dish with plenty of flavor and rich umami presence. — 4 years ago

Boris Mathiszik

9.0

Nice cab from Knight’s Valley/Sonoma. Lighter and less body than the Napa neighbors. Balanced and nice acidity. — 4 years ago

Peter Sultan

9.0

Covid -19 wines part one: out in our quad, with our socially distanced friends and neighbors, drinking by the Hudson. After some sx and being out of work but much better. What better way to start to celebrate recovery but with a Canary Islands red- qpr too, at under 16$. Has a deep maraschino cherry thing, not too dissimilar to Cru Bojo. I love Canary Islands, and in the age of a pandemic, we all need what/who we love. — 6 years ago

Ceccherini Cristiano

9.4

I reckon Monteraponi at the moment makes better wines than any of its glorious neighbors
This Chianti has flesh, character, vibrancy, complexity and magnificent freshness
It takes time to open up
A little funky at first
But it's so persistent
Have it with some black truffle involved in the cooking — 7 years ago

Chris Blanchard

9.1

2023 vintage - it opened brighter than expected with bold ripe flavors and more fruit forward than expected. It was a nice surprise. After 30 minutes the flavors balanced a bit and tasted less bright and fruity and more balanced. The wife and I enjoyed the bottle. — 5 months ago

Pinotman /// Andreas

9.8

Tried side by side. Tasting these since 2009. These are now classic wines. The vineyards are very close to the tree line of the western slope of the black forest in Baden. Who knows what these clones are? May be the Cluny Monks brought them up from France. These are world class Grand Cru level Pinots and are stupid underpriced. With age they turn into incredible beauties which easily match GranCru Burghs. Will be a 10 in 5 years from now. The Muschelkalk is always lighter in color ethereal and elegant. Black forest thyme, touch crushed marble, wild sour raspberry, hint of black forest morello cherries, cranberry, Mexican lime, green moos. This needs to uncoil over night to really get the potential of this. Quite acidic. 12.5%. A stellar vintage. And sleeping beauty. I would say not approachable for a novice at this point. Lucky for me my neighbors get it. Revisit in 2031. — 2 years ago

Kevin Kaley

9.4

One of my all time favorites - visited here years ago.
Nice fruit flavor, smooth and very light tannins. Enjoyed with grilled/smoked beef tenderloin and salmon for New Years day dinner with family. A lovely gift from my neighbor a few years back for helping her out. Its nice to have good neighbors! — 3 years ago

Ryan Guy

9.4

Beautiful nose, ripe plums and blackcherry core, with cranberry and tart cherry. Subtle eucalyptus, tobacco, and olive tapenade. Roses. Racy minerality. Palate delivers ripe blackrasberry pie, clove, cedar box and cranberry. Persistent with balance and freshness. 50% Cabernet franc, 45% merlot, 5% Malbec. Grown on blue clay soils, with famous neighbors of Chevalier Blanc and La Dominique. Drink with short decant or hold. — 4 years ago

Jay Eagan

9.6

Love this pretty Prichard hhilll CabernetAll the neighbors cost 300 more a bottle than this Tor makes a great Melancon as well — 5 years ago

with Kristine

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.0

Pontet Canet tasting and dinner with Alfred Tesseron.

The 13 was a brutal tannin vintage when I tasted it at En Premier. The tannins are still bitty but, nothing like they were out of barrel.

The fruit in the 13 shows the difficulty in the vintage. They are duller and it’s really stands out from other vintages and not in a good way.

It’s lean and there is nothing that really draws you in. Fruits are; dark cherries, rhubarb, blackberries, some blueberries@and the strawberries show some ripeness the other do not. Lots of dry earth, dry stones, some herbs, dark withering florals, decent acidity and a uneventful dry finish.

Photos of; Clyde and Alfred at the bar, their Amphora style cement tanks they ferment part of each vintage now, road signs of the good neighbors they keep and Chateau Pontet Canet. — 7 years ago