Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Rich, deep damson with a violet edge. On the nose it offers dark chocolate and liquorice. The palate is still tight, barely unfurling, more closed than during En Primeur. I love it that even a young Pichon Comtesse works its silky structure and lets a little light and space in between the fruit. Excellent lift on the finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Warm and ripe, this is a beautifully balanced wine. It is packed with black-currant fruits that are bursting out of the glass. A darker side comes with the tannins and new wood flavors that are still prominent. It looks likely the wine will develop slowly, so don't drink before 2025.
Cellar Selection
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Wine Spectator
Very solid, with lots of cassis bush and sweet tobacco notes adding texture to the core of crushed ripe raspberry, blackberry and plum fruit flavors. A licorice snap accent dances throughout, while a bolt of iron runs underneath. This is Pauillac. Best from 2020 through 2035.
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James Suckling
Aromas of cassis bush and shaved chocolate with berries. Full body, velvety-textured tannins and a long and flavorful finish. Tangy undertones with fresh acidity. Drink in 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande has an expressive bouquet with lively blackberry, cedar, flint and graphite aromas that are not powerful, yet display admirable precision. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, the Merlot content lending this Pauillac its trademark fleshiness and roundness, yet there is clearly structure here (not always a trait of this Pauillac growth). It will develop more complexity and personality with bottle age, but at the moment you can sit back and just admire the cohesion and superb length. Winemaker Nicolas Glumineau has overseen a quite wonderful Pichon-Lalande, one with inbuilt longevity.
Ideally located in the southern part of Pauillac, on the banks of the Gironde Estuary, Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, a second growth in the 1855 classification, boasts an outstanding terroir. Here, Cabernet Sauvignon is king, blending perfectly with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot to create classy and complex wines.
The Pichon Longueville estate goes back to 1689. In 1850, Virginie de Pichon Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande, and her two sisters inherited three-fifths of the vineyard from their father. This took on the name of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. In 1978, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, daughter of Edouard Miailhe, in turn inherited this beautiful property and devoted herself entirely to continuing the tradition of quality wine. In 2007, Pichon Comtesse is purchased by Champagne Louis Roederer and joined the Roederer Collection. Since then, the independent family group has injected an innovative and ambitious spirit into this emblematic estate. From building modern technical installations to restructuring the vineyard, which is now grown 100% organically, every effort is made to help the terroir of Pichon Comtesse express itself serenely with power and elegance.
Just three families have been responsible for maintaining this wine's superb reputation for three centuries. The international reputation of this "Super Second" Growth can be attributed to unfailing quality and dynamic owners.
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.