Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, 2eme Grand Cru Classe 2019

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, 2eme Grand Cru Classe 2019

Second Growth. Deuxieme Grand Cru Classe in 1855. Since 2007 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is owned by the Rouzaud family of Louis Roederer.

Expert tasting note: (2019 vintage)

"The deep, dark ruby-red color is not quite opaque. Concentrated, ripe, jamy dark fruit aromas precede lovely fresh, leafy blackcurrant fruit on the palate. Notes of coffee & tobacco leaf compliment the fruit on the mid-palate. Fine, firm tannins are encased in smooth, jamy ripe fruit. Alcohol seems balanced & fresh acidity lifts the fruit well. The tight, toasty structure supports the fruit on a long finish." - 10/23 DCAMW

Robert Parker The Wine Advocate (98/100)

One of the wines of the vintage, the 2019 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande soars from the glass with complex aromas of wild berries, tobacco leaf, loamy soil, burning embers and hints of violets and rose petals. Full-bodied, deep and complete, it’s velvety and seamless, with a broad attack and a multidimensional core of lively, succulent fruit. Concluding with a long, expansive finish, it’s a remarkable young Pauillac that will offer many years of thrilling drinking. Congratulations to Nicolas Glumineau and his team, who are ushering in a new golden age at an address where standards were always very high.

Since joining Pichon Lalande just after the 2012 harvest, Nicolas Glumineau has made a number of changes. In the vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon is increasingly displacing Merlot; the soils are worked less frequently and cover crops are employed; canopy management has evolved, with both fruiting canes now trained in the same direction—Glumineau would like to trail pruning "Guyot simple" if Pauillac's cahier de charges (appellation rules) permitted it; and 27 hectares of the estate's 102 are being farmed organically. A new, highly functional winery and cellar equips him with stainless steel tronconic tanks adapted to parcel-by-parcel vinification. Cooperage choices, too, have been refined (some 65% new oak is the order of the day), and the duration of élevage has been extended to 18-19 months in barrel before racking to tank before bottling. The result? Even as Cabernet Sauvignon occupies a more and more important place in the blend, Pichon Lalande has never been more seamless and sensual, exhibiting a degree of structural refinement combined with remarkable complexity and depth of flavor. The 2019 has turned out brilliantly, and readers will have a hard time choosing whether 2019 or 2016 is the greatest vintage of the decade at this address: I've hedged my bets and bought both.
- Reviewed by: William Kelley