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Pichon Lalande 2019

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pauillac
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyCabernet Sauvignon/Merlot

One of the great names of the Médoc and a true "super-second". Pichon Lalande is one of the most demanded wines of Bordeaux.Characterised by a slightly exotic, spicy character, plump ripe fruit and a polished texture. The percentage of Merlot in the vineyard is high for Pauillac. The "Comtesse" is now owned by Champagne house Louis Roederer and managed by the brilliant wine-maker Nicolas Glumineau, the man who made the awesome Montrose 2009 and 2010 before coming here. A new winery has just been built.

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Label

Tasting Notes

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

98
William Kelley, RobertParker.com (April 2022), April 2022

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.

98
Neal Martin, vinous.com (Southwold), February 2023

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.

97
Thomas Parker MW, Farr Vintners, November 2021

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.

97
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, January 2022

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.

98
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, November 2022

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.

98
Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com, January 2022

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

17
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, February 2023

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

17
Julia Harding MW, JancisRobinson.com, December 2021

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.

94/97
Farr Vintners, Farr Tasting, May 2020

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.

99
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, April 2022

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

18
James Lawther MW, JancisRobinson.com, June 2020
Read more tasting notes...

The sample of 2019 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande sent to me last year was an absolute show-stopper. The bouquet needs a few minutes to open up, delivering intense black fruit, crushed stone and incense with time in the glass. Yes, the nose does remind me of Latour! The medium-bodied palate is endowed with unerring symmetry and poise. This is a powerful, multi-dimensional Pichon-Lalande, extremely precise, very deep and long. The 60% new oak is seamlessly integrated and feels just right. It reminds me of the 1996 in some ways, but with more finesse on the finish. Stunning. 14.12% alcohol. 2026 - 2065

99
Neal Martin, vinous.com, February 2022

The 2019 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande was picked 16 September to 8 October. It has a showstopping nose: intense black fruit laced with graphite and mint. (Whisper it...it reminds me of their First Growth next door neighbor.) The palate is underpinned by very refined tannins that cradle what may well be the purest fruit you will find in this vintage. Unbelievably precise all the way through to the finish, I admit staring at my glass trying to find fault with it. Unless winemaker Nicolas Glumineau gets distracted by the new Cure album and makes a catastrophic error during the rest of its élevage, which he is not prone to doing, you are not looking at a modern-day 1982 or 2016, but something even better and more profound. Tasted from three bottles with consistent notes. 2026 - 2065

98/100
Neal Martin, vinous.com, June 2020

Crazy aromas of sweet tobacco and black fruit. Tar and lead pencil, too. Blackcurrants and blackberries. Solid core of fruit and ripe tannins here. It’s full-bodied and chewy. Extremely long. Fascinating wine. Structure with elegance. Extremely creamy and very, very melted together. A classically proportioned wine. 71% cabernet sauvignon, 23% merlot and 6% cabernet franc.

98/99
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, May 2020

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.

98
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Independent, May 2022

A blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc (with no Petit Verdot this year), the 2019 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande came in at an alcohol of 14.15% and a pH of 3.7. Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it sails out of the glass with a stunning array of Black Forest cake, warm cassis and wild blueberries scents with underlying hints of Morello cherries, redcurrant jelly, pencil shavings, menthol and aniseed with a touch of charcoal. The medium-bodied palate packs a lot of fruit into an elegant package, featuring very finely grained, silt-like tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long with loads of lingering mineral and exotic spice accents.

97/99
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate (June 2020 ), June 2020

A serious, muscled Pichon Comtesse that grabs you from the first nose. The width and texture is evident, feeling both more plush and supple in its fruit character. It's elegant and balanced but packed full of textured raspberries, blueberries and cassis, juicy, with a rise on the finish and clear tannic grip. Very Pauillac in style, more so than the 2018 with great length. Not as structured as the 2016 or the 2010 but not far off and this is easily one of the wines of the vintage. Its heft shares some similarities to its neighbour Latour, which is not always the case in this most feminine of Pauillac wines. Closes down pretty quickly on the finish, suggesting the initial rich fruit is a hint of what is to come but that it will take its time to show itself in bottle. Tasted twice, four weeks apart and it delivered both times. No Petit Verdot in this vintage. Drinking Window 2027 - 2040

98
Jane Anson, Decanter.com, June 2020
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.