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

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.

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.

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.