Winemaker Notes
Blend: 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A Cabernet-dominant blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Merlot that will spend 18 months in 70% new barrels with the balance in once-used oak, the 2025 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron sports a deep purple hue as well as a ripe bouquet of cassis, blueberries, crushed stone, and liquid violets. On the palate, it's full-bodied, with a round, layered, sexy mouthfeel, tons of fruit, ripe tannins, and outstanding length. Checking in at 13.3% alcohol with a pH of 3.72, it's one of the more sunny, voluptuous, sexy wines in the vintage.
Barrel Sample: 96-98 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A brilliant achievement, the 2025 Pichon-Longueville Baron, a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot (70% new oak), features a notably high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon for a warm vintage, exceeding that of 2020 and 2022. It reveals a refined bouquet of dark wild berries, cassis, spice, lead pencil and licorice. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and concentrated, it’s built around a fleshy, finely structured core of fruit with a distinctly Cabernet-driven profile, combining freshness and tension with notable depth. It should age gracefully over the next two to three decades.
Barrel Sample: 96-98 -
Vinous
Silky, aromatic and layered in the glass, the 2025 Pichon Baron is a total stunner. What a wine. Sweet red cherry/plum fruit, blood orange and rose petal are some of the many notes that caress the palate. Hints of pomegranate, mint and exotic spice appear later, adding layers of nuance. The wine's striking mid-palate sweetness and overall balance are the stuff dreams are made of. This is exquisite. Yields were just 24 hectoliters per hectare. The 2025 is expected to spend 18 months in French oak, 70% new. –Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 96-98 -
Decanter
Dark berry fruit aromas. Ripe and grippy, this takes hold straight away with upfront tannins making their mark, covering the mouth in a fine layer of chalkiness but with a cool, wet stone element too. So mineral, very transparent in terms of terroir expression. Lithe and focused, there’s tension as well as. You can feel the muscles of the Cabernet but there’s a slightly chew and juiciness behind the tannin wall. Very precise, with meticulous detail to the tannins, fruit, and cooling acidity. Sophisticated and very enjoyable, if more tense at this point than some others. Blueberry and plum and fresh mint. There’s a real delicacy, pixelated aspect to the overall expression – grand and majestic. Harvest started on 8 September. 3.72pH.
Barrel Sample: 97 -
James Suckling
A very structured red with intense tannins, finishing polished and refined. It's medium-to-full-bodied with super creamy tannins and a long finish. Granular tannins.
Barrel Sample: 96-97
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
The leader on the Left Bank in number of first growth classified producers within its boundaries, Pauillac has more than any of the other appellations, at three of the five. Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild border St. Estephe on its northern end and Chateau Latour is at Pauillac’s southern end, bordering St. Julien.
While the first growths are certainly some of the better producers of the Left Bank, today they often compete with some of the “lower ranked” producers (second, third, fourth, fifth growth) in quality and value. The Left Bank of Bordeaux subscribes to an arguably outdated method of classification that goes back to 1855. The finest chateaux in that year were judged on the basis of reputation and trading price; changes in rank since then have been miniscule at best. Today producers such as Chateau Pontet-Canet, Chateau Grand Puy-Lacoste, Chateau Lynch-Bages, among others (all fifth growth) offer some of the most outstanding wines in all of Bordeaux.
Defining characteristics of fine wines from Pauillac (i.e. Cabernet-based Bordeaux Blends) include inky and juicy blackcurrant, cedar or cigar box and plush or chalky tannins.
Layers of gravel in the Pauillac region are key to its wines’ character and quality. The layers offer excellent drainage in the relatively flat topography of the region allowing water to run off into “jalles” or streams, which subsequently flow off into the Gironde.