Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - Pauillac 2016 (750ml)

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Producer	Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Country	France
Region	Bordeaux
Subregion	Pauillac
Varietal	Bordeaux Blend
Vintage	2016
Sku	102457
Size	750ml
ABV	13.00%

 

MT

Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan, a wealthy bourgeois trader from Bordeaux, bought some vineyards near the Latour fiefdom and established a wine-growing estate, L’Enclos Rauzan.

A little later his daughter, Thérèse, received it as a dowry for her marriage to Jacques François de Pichon Longueville, President of the Bordeaux Parliament. And so began the history of one of the greatest Bordeaux vineyards, which stayed in the same family for over 250 years.

As early as the eighteenth century, this great wine was already benefiting from a significant feminine touch. The Pichon Longueville baronesses – Thérèse de Rauzan, Germaine de Lajus and Marie Branda de Terrefort – were a strong guiding influence, managing the vineyard until the eve of the French Revolution.

The young Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville inherited the vineyard from his mother, Marie de Terrefort, when he was just 19. He died at the age of 90, having lived through three revolutions, the reign of five kings, two republics and an empire. In spite of the difficult times he doggedly sought to improve the quality of the wine. His efforts were rewarded in 1855, in the rankings carried out under Napoleon III, when the château was classed as a Second Cru.
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In 2007, Madame de Lencquesaing decided to pass on her vineyard, in order to secure its future. She chose Louis Roederer to take over from her. This family business headed up by Frédéric Rouzaud already owned two other Bordeaux crus, Château de Pez and Chateau Haut Beauséjour, in addition to other high quality wines in Provence, Portugal and the United States.
For three whole centuries, just two families did their work to make the château and its wines famous. Today, a third family now oversees the destiny of this cru, with the aim of building on the work accomplished so far – and raising the level of quality and prestige still further.

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is highly supple wine, generous, a full and precise wine.

#97 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2019

Blend: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc

Critical Acclaim

V100
Vinous
The 2016 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is every bit as regal as it has always been. Towering and spectacularly rich in the glass, the 2016 captures every ounce of potential is showed from barrel. The 2016 is a vivid, dramatically sweeping wine that will leave readers week at the knees. Beams of tannin give the 2016 soaring intensity that is matched by a host of aromas and flavors that open up in the glass. Blackberry jam, graphite, spice, menthol, licorice, pencil shavings and spice are all finely sketched in a bold, savory Pauillac that hits all the right notes. The 2016 Pichon Comtesse has been riveting on each of the four occasions I have tasted it from barrel thus far, making it easily one of the wines of the vintage. Nicolas Glumineu and his team turned out an epic Pichon Comtesse in 2016. Don't miss it!
JD100
Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from the genius winemaking talent of Nicolas Glumineau, the 2016 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande matches the 1982 and is a perfect, legendary wine in the making. A blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc brought up in 60% new oak, it's not the most powerful Left Bank but offers perfect balance and thrilling intensity as well as heavenly aromatics of crème de cassis, leafy herbs, jammy blackberries, tobacco leaf, and freshly sharpened lead pencils as well as more violets and minerality with time in the glass. Possessing a deep, full-bodied, singular character, the purity of fruit that's the hallmark of the vintage, building tannins, and a sense of class and elegance that's hard to describe, it's a 50-year-wine. While this cuvée has included a fair chunk of Merlot in the past that gave it more upfront appeal, it's important for readers to know it's much more Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated today, and while it is slightly more approachable than some of its neighbors, it shuts down rather quickly with time in the glass. (I followed this wine for multiple days.) I suspect a solid decade of cellaring is warranted.
JS98
James Suckling
Glorious aromas of blackcurrants, blackberries and flowers, from violets to roses. Iron and rust undertones. Full-bodied, dense and very layered with loads of richness. It goes on for minutes. Reminds me of the 1986. Best in decades? Take a first look at it in 2025.
RP98
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is blended of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc aged for 18 months in 60% new oak. Deep purple-black in color, it is a little mute, slowly unfurling to reveal a core of crushed blackcurrants, blueberry compote and black raspberries with nuances of cinnamon stick, violets, star anise, menthol and pencil shavings plus a waft of fallen leaves. Medium-bodied and super intense in the mouth, the palate bursts with black fruits and savory layers, complemented by red fruit sparks and framed by fantastically ripe, fine-grained tannins, finishing very long with a lingering suggestion of minerality.
Rating: 98+
D98
Decanter
They practice biodynamic methods across 6ha of the total 76ha in production here.Cabernet dominant, it's very Pauillac in style and totally lives up to its en primeur promise. The tannins deepen and tighten and here we are, smack-bang in the northern Médoc. This is youthful, rich, powerful and intense; very good quality. It gets better and better as you return to it, and I'm really impressed with the texture and depth of the silky-smooth palate: pure cassis notes alongside hawthorn, hedgerow and liquorice. Matured in 60% new oak.
WS97
Wine Spectator
Saturated with dark currant, fig and blackberry compote flavors, this has a fleshy, nearly glycerin feel at first before stretching out to reveal singed cedar, tobacco leaf, dark earth and cassis bush flavors. A terrific tug of cast iron emerges at the very end. Deliciously juicy dark fruit keeps rolling throughout. Best from 2025 through 2040.
CG96
Connoisseurs' Guide
As powerful and potent as one could possibly wish, yet a wine of extraordinary poise and composition, the 2016 Lalande delivers an absolute wealth of concise and beautifully focused, ripe currant fruit with layer upon layer of savory pencil-lead spice, creamy oak, minerals and tobacco-leaf extras. It is a profound and authoritative Pauillac by any and all measures, and it has tremendously long life ahead. That it will age effortlessly for at least another ten to twenty years is without question, and it, in truth, has the look of a benchmark claret that, with proper cellaring, will continue to beguile well into its third decade and beyond.
WE95
Wine Enthusiast
This wine is full of freshness and life as well as serious tannins and structure. The two sides complement each other to give a wine that has power as well as delicious black fruits and acidity. With the tannins it will age well. Drink this balanced wine from 2025.
Cellar Selection