chateau pichon comtesse de lalande 2eme cru classe pauillac

Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande

Château Pichon Comtesse de Lalande, 2ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2018

Name: Château Pichon Comtesse de Lalande, 2ème Cru Classé, Pauillac
Brand: Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande
Price: 791.12 GBP

97/100

Inside Bordeaux

97+/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

96/100

The Wine Independent

97/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 2001 2002 2003 2007 2012 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

delivery

in bond

Broking

2018
6x75cl
DP
£791.12

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Nicolas Glumineau is a modest man not prone to hyperbole, so when he says 2018 is a vintage that will 'traverse time and remain a true point of reference', we sit up and take note. Produced from 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2018 Pichon Comtesse is a masterful wine, like a piece of classical music, with many parts of the orchestra combining in perfect harmony. Nicolas has kept the femininity and pure Pichon character with its haunting aromas and refined fruit and enhanced it, but has also extracted a little more flesh and roundness giving this a more amplitude on the mid palate that only previously came from the exceptional vintages such as 1982. He has also achieved a level of precision that is hard to find anywhere else in Bordeaux. The flavours are so well delineated and clear. This is more introspective than other recent vintages; after some coaxing classic aromas of violets, griotte, spice, bramble and fine gravelly minerals emerge. This has such impressive purity on the palate; waves of refined fruit coat the mouth - there is a seamless texture - velour fruit caresses the palate. Pure crème de cassis and mulberry are interspersed with notes of coal, cocoa nibs and cranberry. We love the style. This is broad and deeply concentrated, yet there is nothing gawkish. It is composed, refined, elegant, perfectly proportioned. As one would expect from one of Nicolas' wines, the tannins are pitch perfect. They frame the sumptuous palate with salted small berries and delicate mineral notes. It has real tannic finesse, effortless, graceful, deeply nuanced; this is a joy to taste. A really aristocratic Comtesse.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

96/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

The 2018 Pichon Comtesse is deep garnet-purple in color. It features fragrant notions of garrigue, star anise, clove oil, and forest floor, over a core of baked plums, blackcurrant preserves, and dried mulberries. Full-bodied, the palate has a solid backbone of grainy tannins with seamless freshness to frame the taut, muscular black fruits, finishing with a spicy lift.

drinking window 2026 - 2050

date of review 02/2023

97/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

A gourmet vintage that I found a little atypical En Primeur but it has shown over subsequent tastings that this is in control and is going to age beautifully. Love the touches of fennel, liqurice and olive paste that sit alongside the tar, pencil lead, slate and cassis fruits. 50% new oak, 35hl/h yield because of the dry summer. A great wine that I am expecting to have the 2009 ability to surprise you with its finesse as the terroir comes through. Tasted at a chateau vertical July 2021, and again September 2021.

drinking window 2028 - 2044

date of review 10/2021

97+/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2018 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot with a pH of 3.85, an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 87 and 14% alcohol. The grand vin represents 50% of the crop this year. Deep garnet-purple colored, it charges out of the gate with bold scents of baked plums, ripe blackcurrants and wild blueberries, followed by hints of cedar chest, pencil lead, bouquet garni and charcuterie, plus a waft of lilacs. The medium-bodied palate is beautifully crafted with its seamless freshness and firm, grainy tannins supporting the compelling, finely knit black fruits and savory nuances, finishing on a lingering fragrant-earth note. This will need a good 5 years to come around and should easily cellar for another 30 years or more.

drinking window 2026 - 2056

date of review 03/2021

97/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2018 Pichon-Lalande was given an hour’s decant and then observed over the next 24 hours. It has clearly retained the showstopping nose that I encountered from barrel, those same “gentle waves" of black cherries and blueberry, incense and violets lending it a Margaux-like allure. The palate is vibrant and full of tension from the start, the acidity slicing through the layers of quite plush black fruit, judiciously laced with tobacco and mint. There is a beguiling sense of harmony conveyed by this Pichon-Lalande and although there is clearly plenty of structure, the tannins are so pixelated and pliant that it might well be broachable in 4–5 years’ time. Personally, however, I would prefer to cellar it for 8–10 years (by which time I hope that the new Cure album is finally released). However long you decide to keep it tucked away, this is a quite brilliant Pauillac.

drinking window 2025 - 2055

date of review 03/2021

product details

Specifications

Country:

France

Region:

Bordeaux

Appellation:

Pauillac

Producer:

Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande

style:

Red Wine

Grape Variety:

Cab Sauvignon Merlot

abv:

13%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.