Pichon Lalande 2019

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. Drink Date 2027 - 2065

The 2019 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande demands more coaxing from the glass, but it rewards patience with compelling graphite-infused black fruit, unapologetically classic in style, the terroir flooding through. The palate is medium-bodied with wonderful sapidity, gorgeous balance and a pure yet powerful finish that makes you wish you could build a time machine and taste it in 20 years. Sublime. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. Drink 2026-2060.

71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. Deep ruby colour. The nose finds the capacity to be both seductive and fresh in equal measure. There is an interplay of damson, blackberry and fresh plums, layeres by subtle and savoury spice. The palate is creamy with dark fruit, silky with ripe tannins, yet deep and structured. The acidity is vibrant, matching the fleshy fruit at the core. Fruit is the focus, but there are notes of cedar and hedgerow to add savoury depth. The structure persists on the finish, this will need some time in bottle to reveal its full potential, but it should drink well for decades. An excellent showing.

Classic aromas of lead-pencil shavings, blackcurrants and blueberries, as well as some as, following through to a full body with polished tannins and a fresh, delicious finish. Wonderful crafted. Try after 2025.

A blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc, the 2019 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande spent 18 months in oak, 60% of it new. Deep garnet-purple colored, it is a little closed to begin, unravelling with coaxing to offer notes of kirsch, dark chocolate, cardamom, and rose oil over a core of blackcurrant cordial, star anise, and mossy tree bark. Medium to full-bodied, firm, and with exquisitely fine-grained tannins, it has impactful, very tightly wound fruit layers and incredible grace, finishing very long with lots of mineral sparks.

You feel the clever construction of this wine from the start, and the architecture shines through. A linen edge of the tannins, with grain and texture that holds things back through the mid palate. Subdued power at the moment, with hints of butterscotch and black chocolate, bilberry fruits that are not overly sweet but have succulence and impact. Good quality, one to cellar and look forward to opening in the future. 60% new oak, 4hl/h yield. No Petit Verdot in this vintage.

Tasted blind. Deep crimson. Weak rim. Biscuity, alluring nose. Dry finish. Correct without being mind-blowing. All the ingredients are there without being knit together. 14%
Drink 2028– 2044

71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc.
More leafy than most of the Pauillacs in this small selection, very much what I expect from Comtesse. Dry, firm, elegant texture, really elegant in its dry finesse. Very cassis-focused, dry and refined. (JH) 14.1%
Drink 2030 – 2045

The 2019 is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc - almost identical to both 2017 and 2018. The wine will be aged for 18-19 months in 60% new French oak with the remainder in second fill barrels. The yields are roughly average at 42hl/ha, but Nicolas hopes that this will improve with their new planting program in the future. Deep ruby purple in the glass with creamy, polished black fruits on the nose. The palate shows more structure and is savoury, notes of tobacco and earthy come through together with pure blackcurrant. Spicy, toasty oak is well integrated thanks to the intensity of fruit at the core. Chewy and rich to the finish, which spicy and long.

Pure class, the 2019 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande is another brilliant wine from director Nicolas Glumineau that checks in at the top of the vintage. A blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc that was harvested from mid-September through October 8th. Brought up in roughly 60% new French oak, it hit 14.1% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.7. More elegant and poised from bottle than barrel, it offers a brilliant perfume of crème de cassis, lead pencil shavings, tobacco leaf, damp earth, and graphite. Deep, full-bodied, and pure perfection on the palate, it has this incredible marriage of Latour-like stature and regalness buffered by wonderful, sexy, seamless fruit, which no doubt comes from the higher Merlot content and makes Comtesse de Lalande so singular and unique. It builds slowly with time in the glass and has remarkable purity of fruit, ultra-fine tannins, perfect balance, and a finish that just begs you to pour another glass. It has a seductive, seamless profile that offers pleasure even today (although it needs lots of air to show at its best) yet needs 7-8 years of bottle age to hit the early stages of its prime drink window and will evolve for another 40-50 years if stored properly.

71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc. Barrel sample.
Just so poised and refined. Fragrant and pure with leafy, garden-fresh, dark-fruit aromatics. Long and linear with plenty of fruit and drive. A profusion of tannins but the resolution adjusted to rein-in power. Shades of the benchmark 1996 with an increase of Cabernet in the blend. (JL)
Drink 2028 – 2045