Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron (Futures Pre-Sale) 2011
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Spectator
Wine -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James -
Dunnuck
Jeb
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This has muscle, but is fleshy and almost creamy along the edges, with a very dense core of plum, blackberry and cassis waiting in reserve. A sleek iron edge cruises in on the finish and adds some serious length.
Barrel Sample: 92-95 Points -
Wine Enthusiast
Big tannins, smoky wood notes and prominent fruit mark this wine, along with acidity and freshness. It’s powerful, with the most gentle structure of concentrated dusty tannins and intensely-fresh blackberry-juice flavors.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 Points -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This splendid Pauillac estate's 2011 exhibits an impressively saturated ruby/purple color as well as notes of spring flowers interwoven with creme de cassis, licorice and background incense and toasty oak. The tannins are firm and the wine is medium-bodied and rich with layers of fruit and extract as well as a long finish. An outstanding example of the vintage, it will need 3-4 years of cellaring and should drink well for 15-20 years.
Barrel Sample: 90-92+ Points -
James Suckling
A Pichon Baron with currants and cocoa powder. It’s a little lean but shows lovely full body, bright fruit and polished tannins. Lovely race and finesse. Better in 2018.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2011 Pichon-Longueville Baron is a classic, solid, outstanding 2011 that offers textbook cedar and lead pencil notes as well as a core of dark fruits, medium-bodied richness, ripe tannin, and a focused, chiseled, yet balanced style on the palate. It’s drinking nicely today but will last for another two decades.
The Estate was founded in the late 17th Century. This period was known as the Grand Siecle, or "great century", in reference to Louis XIV's 1661 accession to the French throne. In 1689 Pierre Desmezures de Rauzan, an influential wine merchant and steward of the prestigious Latour and and Margaux estates, bought plots of vines close to the Latour estate to create Enclos Rauzan. These vines were part of his daughter Therese's dowry when she married Baron Jacques Pichon de Longueville in 1694, the year in which the Pichon Baron estate was founded. An illustrious estate, with an enduring reputation, was born. It remained in the same family for generations.
In 1850 the property was divided in two. Baron Raoul Pichon de Longueville's section became the Pichon Baron estate. The second section, belonging to his three sisters, became Pichon Comtesse. Baron Raoul was proud of his prestigious property, and in 1851 he commissioned the imposing chateau inspired by Renaissance architecture that we know today. This uniquely charming and romantic chateau, with its two emblematic turrets, has stood proudly at the vineyard's heart ever since. During the Universal Exhibition of 1855, the wine was classed as a Second Grand Cru Classe according to the ranking system requested by Emperor Napoleon III, who wished to showcase Bordeaux's great wines. In 1933, the Pichon de Longueville family sold the property to the Bouteiller family, who managed the chateau for over 50 years.
In 1987 the estate was bought by AXA Millesimes, whose aim is to enable great wines from the vineyards with a glorious past to achieve their full potential. An architectural competition was launched in collaboration with the Paris Pompidou Centre to provide the estate with new operational buildings. The comprehensive reconstruction of the fermenting room and cellar, and renovation of the chateau, began in 1988. Since then, the 19th century chateau's image has been
reflected in an ornamental pool stretching majestically before it.. And since 2008, its silvery expanse conceals an underground cellar, reminiscent of Jules Verne's Nautilus, with view of both the water and sky. The barrel cellar complements a production process in which excellence is paramount, in the finest tradition of great Pauillac wines.