Chateau Pichon-Longueville, Baron de Pichon-Longueville, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France, 2018

Overview of the Wine
The Pichon Longueville estate goes back to 1688-1689. In 1850, Virginie de Pichon Longueville, Countess de Lalande, and her two sisters inherited three-fifths of the vineyard from their father. This took on the name of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. In 1978, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, daughter of Edouard Miailhe, in turn inherited this beautiful property and devoted herself entirely to continuing the tradition of quality wine.

Just two families have been responsible for maintaining this wine's superb reputation for three centuries. Bordering on Chateau Latour, Second Growth Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is located in the southern part of Pauillac, near Saint-Julien. The unusual choice of grape varieties (there is a much higher percentage of Merlot than average) is a partial explanation for this wine's outstanding personality, marked by elegance, balance and finesse. Traditional methods and modern technology combine to make the most of the estate's prestigious soil. The international reputation of this "Super Second" Growth can be attributed to unfailing quality and dynamic owners.

Winemaker
Jean-René Matignon

Grape / Blend
78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot

Origin
Pauillac, Bordeaux, France

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
Château Pichon Baron 2018 reveals a dark garnet colour. The precise and delicate nose offers notes of fresh fruit, black berries and spices. The attack is mellow, generous, rounded and juicy, developing powerful, well-blended tannins. The body is structured with silky, racy tannins. The flavour is carried by the structure, which preserves the mid-palate. The finish is tasty, full, fleshy, and harmonious.

The richness is perfectly integrated and the style is highly characteristic, built to last through the decades, while retaining elegance and distinction.

97 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a little reticent to begin, slowly giving way to notions of warm black cherries, blackcurrant cordial, stewed plums and sautéed herbs with hints of damp soil, tobacco and beef drippings. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with tightly wound black fruit and earthy layers, framed by ripe, fine-grained tannins and lovely freshness making for a long, lively finish. Classic!

97 Points - Decanter
A beautifully ripe, intense and concentrated red and black fruit aroma leads to a palate that's still closed, but those damson fruits are well brushed and of serious quality. This is going beat for beat with the top level wines in 2009 and it's utterly brilliant, delivering juice, minerality, power, balance, silky tannins, definition and sheer enjoyment.

96 Points - James Suckling
What a great nose of blackberries, currants and spices. Hints of fresh herbs. Full body, with ultra-fine tannins and lovely fruit. Such finesse and beauty. Wonderful to taste. Reminds me of the legendary 1982. Try in 2018.

95 Points - Wine Enthusiast
A seductive wine, deliciously ripe with the softest, juiciest fruit over smoky new wood. The wine shows intense fruit as well as a soft Merlot core. The tannins are beautifully integrated in this ripely sweet wine.

94 Points - Wine Spectator
Offers a dark roasted core of plum sauce, warm fig paste, melted licorice and singed cedar, while a mouthwatering iron edge and a lovely smoldering tobacco note add lift and length through the finish. A touch restrained now, but should blossom with cellaring. Best from 2017 through 2033.

ABSOLUTELY ONE OF THE BEST -- Ian Blackburn - TEETH - 97 Points 
On my recent visit to Bordeaux - this producer has risen above... the venue, the hospitality, the investment... the results.  This producer will pull way from others - and this wine is EVIDENCE of that.  The purity, the concentration - the punctuated Pauillac quality marks, minerality, lenght, colour, and balance... BLIK this MFers! 

Product size: 750ml

Excluded from additional discounting.