Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse De Lalande 2010

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse De Lalande, 2eme Grand Cru Classe, Pauillac, Bordeaux, 2010

Grapes: A blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot

Since 2007, the chateau has been owned by the Louis Roederer champagne house and production is now organic/biodynamic. Vineyards, located right next to the Gironde Estuary, cover 102ha and carefully selected fruit from over 70 plots make up the final wine.

Less opulent than the 2009 but with greater freshness and firmer, more tannic finish despite the higher proportion of merlot this year. Rich and unctuous with lovely, juicy texture, another great success.

Critics' Tasting Notes:

"The 2010 Pichon Lalande is performing extremely well and at the top of the range I predicted several years ago. A final blend dominated much more by Cabernet Sauvignon than usual (66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and the rest Petit Verdot), the wine is a tighter, more tannic and structured version of this famed Pauillac, which often tends to have more of a St-Julien-like personality than most Pauillacs. Structured, backward and tannic, yet showing a fat mid-palate that is more savory, broader and more expansive than I remember from barrel, this wine is somewhat reminiscent of the 1986, given the Cabernet Sauvignon domination of the blend. Full-bodied, impressively endowed, and less sexy and velvety than normal, this is a somewhat different style of Pichon Lalande than most readers have been used to. Whether you like it more or less will depend on your point of view, but this wine, unlike most Pichon Lalandes, needs a good 5-7 years of cellaring and should keep for 30+ years."

95+/100 points, Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, February 2013

"Tasted blind. Deep garnet with brick rim. Spicy and lifted on the nose: attractive stone-dust as well as plenty of fruit and the start of tertiary savoury notes. Powerful, dry but elegant in that tannic power. There’s tension and a long future here, the tannins still chewy." Drink 2025-2040

17.5/20 points, Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2020