Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande
Château Pichon Comtesse de Lalande, 2ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2020
97/100
Inside Bordeaux
99/100
The Wine Independent
98/100
Vinous
Available Vintages
portfolio
2020
75cl
DP
£173.21
2020
6x75cl
DP
£1,039.22
Broking
2020
6x75cl
DP
£787.22
Justerini & Brooks Tasting note
We have tasted some wonderful wines since Nicolas Glumineau took the reins at Pichon Comtesse, however, the 2020 may well be the finest expression we’ve witnessed to date. Topping 2019 was going to be a challenge, however, if anything, this possesses even more refinement and style. Initially this is all brooding and introverted, one senses potential, but it is stubbornly mute. The palate is anything but shy, it is so seductive and seamless, the quality of fruit is just exceptional: deep, dark, complex, mineral infused, spectacularly graceful yet powerful, there’s no sense of heat or weight, one’s palate is treated to an explosion of cashmere textured floral fruit. It is such a joy to taste, but extremely difficult to do justice to with a tasting note… After further aeration, some florality comes through, violets and roses mixing with pure cherry and cassis, one feels the full potential will not be seem for many years… We keep returning to the deep core of fruit and the stunning tannic profile, so detailed and precise, it just oozes quality and refinement, it keeps growing in stature, effortless, wonderful, this clearly has a huge future ahead. Nicolas describes it as “a delicate, almost syrup-like, silky structure”. A spectacular Pichon! 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc.
delivery information
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DELIVERY
How much is delivery
Delivery is free to mainland Great Britain and other bonded warehouses for orders over £200 (inc. VAT) in value. For orders under the value of £200 destined for mainland Great Britain there is a delivery charge of £18 (inc. VAT).
All deliveries to mainland Great Britain coming from Cellarers will incur a delivery charge of £24 (inc. VAT). Cellarers Storage Charges.
Where are the wines stored and are they fully insured whilst in storage?
We store clients’ wines with a subsidiary company called Cellarers (Wines) Ltd, which is wholly owned by Justerini & Brooks but where clients’ wines are segregated from our own stock. The wines are stored at Octavian's industry-leading underground cellars in Corsham, Wiltshire, UK. All wines stored with Cellarers are individually labelled with clients’ details and are insured to current market value.
Can I ship outside of mainland Great Britain?
We offer regular shipments to Hong Kong from £90 per 9L case and £62 per 4.5L case. A discounted rate of £72 per 9L case may apply when shipping five or more cases to one address. Deliveries usually take approximately three weeks.
For deliveries to destinations other than mainland Great Britain or Hong Kong, please contact the Customer Relationship Team via email on justbrooksorders@justerinis.com for a quote.
Why can’t I request delivery of certain wines?
Most often, the reason you cannot request delivery of certain wines is that they are still ‘En Primeur’ and not yet in the country. Once they land in the UK, they will be available for Duty Paid Delivery. Click here for more information on buying En Primeur.
GUARANTEED PROVENANCE
Provenance in fine wine
When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost 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
98/100
Neal Martin,
Vinous
The 2020 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande has a very intense bouquet with layers of black fruit, hints of seaweed/brine, crushed stone, and perhaps less mint than it displayed from barrel. This possesses stunning delineation, like a perfect C major chord echoing around an empty cathedral. The palate is very well balanced, much more classic in style than its barrel showing, saline to its core, with hints of brine. A Pauillac where you can really sense the Gironde estuary flowing through its veins. Nicolas Glumineau has one of his finest creations on his hands, and when it grows up, it will be challenging First Growths.
drinking window 2027 - 2055
date of review 02/2023
99/100
Lisa Perrotti-Brown,
The Wine Independent
The 2020 Pichon Lalande is blended from 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc but without any Petit Verdot and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It is a touch closed to start off, before soaring out of the glass with notes of juicy blueberries, black raspberries and fresh blackcurrant, plus hints of pencil shavings, cinnamon stick, red roses, and Ceylon tea, with a waft of dark chocolate. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has a rock-solid structure of grainy tannins and seamless freshness supporting the taut, muscular black and blue fruits, finishing long and fragrant.
drinking window 2027 - 2062
date of review 11/2022
97/100
Jane Anson,
Inside Bordeaux
Espresso, cocoa beans, powerfully ripe black damson, blueberry and cassis fruits. A ton of personality and a delicious wine with tension, a real sense of seductive charming tannins, full of promise. One of the best of the appellation, with finessed tobacco, heather and campfire smoke as it opens, expertly managing the low 30hl/ha yield. 60% new oak, harvest September 9 to 29. Tasted twice.
drinking window 2030 - 2050
date of review 09/2021
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