Pichon Baron 2015

Reminding me of the 1990, the 2015 Château Pichon Baron is a sensational bottle of wine made from 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot that spent 18 months in 80% new French oak. Boasting a deep purple color as well as awesome notes of black raspberries, toasted spices, cassis, lead pencil shavings, tobacco leaf and building minerality, this full-bodied, concentrated 2015 has sweet tannin, a great texture, and a big, big finish. Pauillac all the way, with both opulence and finesse, forget bottles of 4-5 years and enjoy anytime over the following two to three decades. This is a match for the 2009, 2000, and 1990. Drink 2022 - 2052.

A blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Merlot, the 2015 Pichon Baron is deep garnet in color. It comes bounding out of the glass with eager-to-please scents of black cherry compote, blueberry pie, and creme de cassis, plus fragrant nuances of sandalwood, Chinese five spice, and dried roses. The medium-bodied palate offers wonderfully expressive notes of black and red berry preserves accented by exotic spices and supported by plush tannins, finishing with great freshness and opulence.

The 2015 Pichon-Baron has an engaging, complex bouquet of blackberry, cedar, mint and graphite, demonstrating more cohesion and more conviction than its peers. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and extremely well-judged acidity that imbues this Pauillac with a sense of effortlessness and class lacking in some of its peers. A stunning 2015 and one of the greatest releases from the estate. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.

This is a muscular edition with attractive, deeply ripe blackberries and plums set amid firm and assertively linear tannins that hold the finish long and on point. Cool-fruited finish. There’s great potential here. Try this from 2023.

Plum, damson, cassis and rosebud notes curl out of the glass immediately. The texture deepens and widens through the mid palate, with grilled bacon, cocoa bean, espresso, fig, grilled cedar, dense and concentrated, with a crush of mint leaf on the finish. Love this, a generous wine that resonates through the palate with waves of flavour and a smoky finish. This has the weight and sense of occasion that tells you this is a classified wine in a great vintage, and is one to look out for. 80% new oak, Jean-René Matignon technical director.

Tasted blind. Lustrous crimson. Polished and sophisticated nose. Thick and sweet. Burly, impressive stuff with lots of intensity. Dry finish for the moment. Falls away a little suddenly. Great energy. Good wine but not the best vintage of Pichon Baron.
Drink 2025-2043

This great 73 hectare vineyard has been producing classic Pauillac since the late 1980's when Jean-Michel Cazes of Lynch Bages took control. In recent years Englishman Christian Seely has been in charge and quality continues to rise. The vineyard is planted with 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The grand vin is now made only from fruit produced in the original vineyard that is opposite Latour and next to Lascases. Latour-like in style, Pichon Baron has been a star performer in all our recent blind vintage tastings. Two second labels are now produced - Les Griffons (from the younger vines) and Les Tourelles de Longueville (from a specific parcel of mostly Merlot vines). The 2015 Pichon Baron is a strongly Cabernet Sauvignon wine - 77% of the blend - and represents around 43% of the vineyard's total production. Deep purple colour with a brooding nose of intense black fruit and sweet crème de cassis, offset with high tones of cedar and pencil shavings. The palate is rich and dense, a deep core of black fruit offset by firm tannins and savoury tobacco and leather notes. This is precise and pure with classic Pichon Baron muscle and power. An impressive, ageworthy wine.

Brooding richness the nose has depth the start of the palate a mix of powerful black fruits. Behind the firmness at the start ripe fruit gives richness the mid palate has flesh suppleness velvet smoothness. Bilberry adds brightness a balance of flavours with the rich fruit giving depth on the finish.

One of the best young Pichon-Barons I’ve ever tasted, this is a superb wine that will be worth cellaring as one of the Left Bank reds of the vintage. Serious, compact and concentrated, with sinewy tannins, dense, focused damson, blackcurrant and blueberry fruit, a whiff of tobacco leaf and liquorice and tangy acidity. Drink: 2025-35

There is rare sexiness on the nose here with open, rich, slightly exotic fruit leading the way and this pulls you into the glass. The palate backs this up with stunning cadence and drive and the length is staggering. The density of flavour comes with beautiful freshness and the tannins swoop in and smother the palate at the end with glorious drama and precision. Stunning.