Tasted twice - last time in November 2021. Nevertheless, it's a complete wine with great complexity, rich, and excellent length. Tannin seemed to be a bit firmer than compared to vintages 20. Very intense nose of tobacco and grilled bacon, tight, dense, fat and luscious on the palate with a strong backbone. Tasted in May 2021. 76% Cabernet Sauvignon + 24% Merlot. Minty, tobacco leaf, redcurrants and blackcurrants, fleshy, vibrant, well-integrated tannin, fine midpalate and long-lasting finish. Sauvignon in the blend, and the last vintage made by Jean-Rene Matignon, technical director of the estate, who retired in 2022. Tasted twice - last time in September 2022. Wine menu for a day in April 2019 at Pichon Baron, left and right!Ĭorine Ilic and Nicolas Santier from Pichon Baron's communication department While it's masculine, which corresponds very well with the fact that men inherited it in 1850, the other part at that time, big property across the road, inherited by women and becoming Pichon Comtesse, is much more feminine wine, with more elegance and finesse. Pichon Baron is an authentic Pauillac wine with power, a strong backbone and big concentration. Les Tourelles has more Merlot than Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, while Les Griffons has more Cabernet Sauvignon than Merlot. In addition to Grand Vin, two-second wines are produced, Les Tourelles de Longueville and Les Griffons de Pichon Baron. Planted grape varieties are 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Pichon Baron covers 73 ha of vines whose average age is 35 years. Under the new ownership, the quality of Pichon Baron started to improve, especially in 2005, 2009, and 2010, plus the last five vintages (2014, 2015, 2016, 20) are excellent. In 1988, the renovation of the chateau and the creation of a new cellar for vinification and ageing began. After a short time, he was replaced by Jean-Rene Matignon, who's become the technical director of Pichon Baron since then. In 1987 French insurance company AXA Millesimes purchased this property, and Jean-Michel Cazes from Lynch Bages was appointed as manager. Under their ownership, the quality of the wine wasn't worth it's status with thin and bland wines. Two sons inherited the part known as Pichon Longueville Baron, and three daughters were granted property on the other side of the road, which later became Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.įrom the 1930s until the mid-1980s, Pichon Baron was owned by the Bouteiller family. In 1850, Pichon Longueville Baron, according to the will of Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville after his death the same year, was split among his five children. Anticipated maturity: Now-2017.Chateau Pichon Baron has a long history, and I'll mention the most important facts here. Some tannins remain, but this wine has reached its plateau of maturity, where it should remain for another 10-15 years. The wine is lush, medium to full-bodied, and layered with texture, low acidity, sweet tannin, and the hallmark purity and elegance this estate routinely produces. The nose offers sweet plums and creme de cassis intermixed with vanilla and graphite. Wines from Comtesse de Lalande are some of the more voluptuous to come from the Médoc due to the high proportion of Merlot in the wine.Īpproaching full maturity, Pichon-Lalande’s 1989 has a deep ruby/plum color with some lightening at the edge. The Saint-Julien holding covers twelve hectares (30 acres) and although the estate has produced a simplified labeled Saint-Julien, this wine is now rarely encountered.įive Bordeaux grapes are grown on the estate’s vineyards, although the grand vin is historically dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot (with Cabernet Sauvignon making up 60 percent of the blend). The Pichon-Lalande estate covers 85 hectares (210 acres) in both Pauillac and Saint-Julien. All three estates share something of a similar terroir and climate, which partly helps to explain the quality of the wine at Comtesse de Lalande – which is sometimes referred to as “nearly first growth”. Pichon-Lalande also neighbors first-growth powerhouse, Château Latour at the southern end of the Pauillac appellation. Often shortened in common parlance to “Pichon-Lalande” or “Pichon Comtesse” (partly to differentiate it from a neighbor, Château Pichon-Longueville Baron), the estate produces a regularly lauded, Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant grand vin. of the most significant second growths in Pauillac, Bordeaux. 1989 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Grand Cru ClasseĬhâteau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a highly regarded wine estate in the Pauillac appellation of the Haut-Médoc region of northern Bordeaux.
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