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76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot Such a lovely contrast to Pichon Comtesse but absolutely equal in class. A more spectacular style, this has concentrated rich dark currant and cassis fruits, with underlying flavours of fresh tobacco and liquorice. Superbly intense, brimming with fruit which is wrapped around some exciting muscle and tannic core. Very long indeed and impressive.
76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot Such a lovely contrast to Pichon Comtesse but absolutely equal in class. A more spectacular style, this has concentrated rich dark currant and cassis fruits, with underlying flavours of fresh tobacco and liquorice. Superbly intense, brimming with fruit which is wrapped around some exciting muscle and tannic core. Very long indeed and impressive.
The 2020 Pichon Baron has a delineated, slightly conservative but brilliantly focused bouquet that opens gloriously with time in the glass: black cherries, blueberry and cassis tinged with graphite. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent and juicy tannins that disguise the structure underneath. There's a real peacock's tail on this Pauillac, and it's a long-term prospect. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
As I found before, the 2020 Pichon Baron takes a while to open in the glass. Finally, it offers enticing blackberry and boysenberry fruit, peony and iris flower, hints of graphite and black truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannins, again, displaying outstanding symmetry and focus, fresh as a daisy with a strong and mineral-driven finish. Christian Seely and his team have overseen a splendid Pichon Baron for the ages. Blue-blooded Pauillac. Drink 2028-2050
The 2020 Pichon Baron underwent an early picking with relatively low yields. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, it has a very tight nose at first that demands 15–20 minute coaxing in the glass. It eventually reveals enticing blackberries, blueberries and hints of balsamic and undergrowth, all very precise; crushed rock scents surface with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine-grained tannins and touches of hoisin toward a dense but structured finish of unerring symmetry. Tasted from test tube sample and regular 75cl bottle. Drink 2028 - 2050
The 2020 Pichon Baron is every bit as magnificent as it was en primeur. A wine of vertical intensity and explosive power, the 2020 offers up an exotic mix of dark red/black fruit, espresso, licorice, menthol, gravel and dried herbs. This potent, driving Pauillac needs time to come together. It marries the fruit intensity of a warm year with the driving energy of a cool year. The 2020 is a gorgeous Pichon Baron. Drink 2028-2050
The 2020 Pichon Baron is utterly breathtaking, and also one of the very best young vintages I have tasted here. An exotic mélange of red cherry, mint, rose petal and blood orange comes alive in the glass. More than anything, though, the Pichon-Baron possesses remarkable energy and vibrancy that builds to an intense, beautifully focused finish. This is hands down one of the most impressive wines of 2020. Superb. Drink 2035 - 2055
The 2020 Pichon-Longueville Baron is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot aging for an estimated 18 months in French oak barrels, 70% new. The production of the grand vin represents 48% of the harvest this year. Opaque purple-black in color, it comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notions of blackberry pie, preserved plums and crème de cassis, plus suggestions of Chinese five spice, chocolate mint, graphite and cedar chest with a touch of violets. The medium-bodied palate is built like a brick house, featuring firm, ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness to support the taut, muscular black fruits, finishing long and spicy. Drink 2027-2052
This young Bordeaux is totally seamless with fine, velvet-like tannins that are integrated and refined. Underlying freshness and verve. It’s full-bodied, linear and long with a compact palate.
Intense, concentrated, rippling with power while still delivering finesse. A muscular Pichon Baron, layered with liquorice and chocolate shavings. Unmistakably Pauillac, and hugely Cabernet dominant, with savoury spice notes of grilled cumin and the same muscular, saline-backed tannins that you find in Les Griffons, just here with more definition and depth. 70% new oak for 18 months, 48% of overall production. Harvest September 14 to 30. Yields on the old vines here just above 30hl/ha. Drin 2029-2048
As expected Cabernet leads the way in this blend and it is the only red in this particular family to feature this grape in the driving seat. For this reason, it has a markedly more commanding nose and stance on the palate. Small berries make for a deep, dark colour and alongside the intensity of the perfume and palate one might expect to experience a markedly tannic finish, but no. This is a genteel, honed wine with a long, lithe finish and a discreet, savoury kick on the back of the palate and this makes me think that it might start to drink a little sooner than the more structured 2018 vintage. A shade lighter, a touch more expressive and silky, this is a suave Pichon Baron with restraint offset with typical distinction and I expect it to blossom in a decade and then hold well into the future.
Deep crimson hue. Powerful and reserved, the nose dark and restrained with just a nip of vanilla oak and spice. Dense, firm and persistent on the palate, a massive tannic frame heightened by acidity. Powerful and brooding. Will definitely need time. (JL) 13.7%. Drink 2030 – 2050
The inky hued 2020 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron checks in as a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot that spent 18 months in 70% new barrels. It's a dense, rich, powerful 2020 offering loads of pure cassis and almost blue fruits as well as full-bodied richness, a round, lush, incredibly sexy texture, sweet tannins, and ample classic Pauillac lead pencil, tobacco, and violet aromas and flavors. It's unquestionably in the same ballpark as the 2015, 2016, and 2018, and given its sweet tannins and beautifully integrated acidity, it should have some up-front appeal as well, yet still age at a glacier pace.
Richly colored with purple around the edges the wine struts its creme de cassis, tobacco, cigar box, earthy, forest floor and peppery spice nose with ease. On the palate the wine is round, polished, sweet, fresh, ripe, long and elegant. This is a refined, classic, potentially forward vintage of Pichon Baron that should start showing quite well with just a decade of aging. The wine was made from blending 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, 13.6% ABV. Yields were only 33 hectoliters per hectare.
Due south of St Estèphe lies the appellation of Pauillac, the king of Left Bank communes. It is home to three first growths as well as a plethora of other classified growths. Pauillac's renowned well-draining, gravelly soils enable its dominant grape Cabernet Sauvignon to reach fantastic heights of complexity and concentration. As a result, Pauilac's wines tend to be full-bodied with compact tannins and good freshness. Its aromatics are often what one associates with classic Bordeaux: pencil shavings, black currant and occasional mint. Some of the most famous châteaux of the commune are Latour, Mouton Rothschild, Lafite Rothschild, Pichon Baron, Pichon Lalande and Lynch Bages.
