Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2010

The 2010 Pichon-Lalande has a very beguiling bouquet with a very expressive Merlot at the moment. There is a sense of warmth coming through, touches of liquorice and allspice, although it remains delineated and intense. The palate is medium-bodied with those subtle marine influences that I have observed in previous bottles. I was maybe expecting a little more precision and grip on the finish, but it remains a gorgeous Pichon-Lalande, even if it has been surpassed by subsequent vintages like the 2015 and 2016. Tasted from an ex-château bottle at the BI Wines & Spirits 10-Year On tasting.

Brilliant – double decant and wait an hour so the wine can better express its sensual aromas of faded rose, cassis, homemade strawberry jam, graphite, and iodine freshness. The palate is wrapped in cashmere-like refinement, leading to a long finish with sea air and floral freshness. Best to hold for another five years for a proper drinking window, but if you insist, try it now with filet mignon.

Rich, cooked plum fruit. Some bitter juniper character and mint. Compact and leathery. Liquorice and fennel on the finish. Staunchly savoury, with quite warm alcohol too. More cerebral than sensual in style. (RH)

The wine has clearly improved with age: you now find layers of fresh, sweet currants, leafy tobacco, cedar, and a sprig of mint on the nose, and on the soft, vibrant, chalky palate. Drink from 2025 to 2050.

Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet highlights. Intense bouquet, deep, with plenty of warm Cabernet, notes of pumpernickel, coffee and dried fruit, followed by abundant cassis. Firm palate with well-supportive acidity; the astringency is demanding. This is a great wine, but it is still seeking harmony. Only in about 10 years will a final verdict be possible; by then its fine extract-driven bitterness will have matured and integrated into the body.

66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot. 41 hl/ha. Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet highlights. Full blackcurrant bouquet with a delicate, floral Cabernet spice, expansive with a light oaky sweetness. On the palate, creamy, showing suppleness and lots of polish in the rich tannins, staying on blueberry notes and finishing with medium drive and aromatics. An atypical 2010 in style. But it is a very typical Pichon-Lalande that feigns a certain lightness. Tasted twice—once at the Château and again at the Union des Grands Crus. (18/20). 12: Extremely dark purple with lilac and violet reflections. Intense bouquet, deep, with plenty of warm Cabernet, pumpernickel notes, coffee and dried fruits, with abundant cassis behind. Firm palate with well-supporting acidity; the astringency is demanding, the wine is great but still somehow searching for harmony. I will probably only be able to give a clear verdict in about 10 years; by then its fine extract bitterness will have matured and integrated into the body. (18/20). 12: Deep dark garnet with a lilac sheen. Refreshing bouquet of elderberry, blueberries and cassis, underpinned below by a touch of coconut; immediately appealing—the primary fruit fully on display. On the palate, wonderful harmony: the tannins are perfectly integrated and already lend the wine a certain softness, the aromas are focused and the finish is long. A majestic wine with graceful poise. It’s no crime to try it now. Utterly convincing and could, in a way, become a 1982 PiCoLa copy. Now it deserves one more point, and I’m already looking forward to encountering this wine as often as possible in the coming years.

A truly great, beautiful Pauillac nose with cedar and sweet spices, a generous, silky texture, fine tannins, good length, though there is still some ground to make up against the very best.

Supple, very red-fruited, soft, inconsistent.

Intense garnet red. An intense, complex bouquet that highlights the wine’s youthful character. In its intensity, the wine allows itself to be somewhat closed—and rightly so, as it needs time. On the palate, the attack is dense, juicy and imposing. These traits persist on the palate, where the wine shows exceptional depth. The tannins are powerful yet elegant, in symbiosis with the acidic structure that promises longevity and pedigree. A truly great wine.

The nose is fruity, racy, well-chiselled and aromatic, offering a lovely control of power, a fine grain, depth, delicate intensity and a frank/energetic edge. It reveals notes of pulpy wild blackberry, crushed blackcurrant and, more lightly, violet, combined with touches of fairly ripe raspberry, ripe wild red berries, lily, Sichuan pepper, as well as a hint of fleshy blue plum, gunflint/racy minerality, a delicate hint of sweet spices, nutmeg, almond and very discreet toasted nuances. The palate is fruity, controlled, racy and balanced, with a zesty backbone, juiciness, good definition, precision, a slight tension, a lovely fineness of grain, energy, concentration, a subtle straightness, a fine zesty thread and power (in delicacy). On the palate, the wine shows notes of juicy/pulpy blackberry, fleshy blackcurrant and, more lightly, morello cherry, combined with touches of blueberry, crushed small red berries, violet, as well as hints of blond tobacco, nutmeg, sweet spices and a subtle clove note (in the background). The tannins are elegant, precise and integrated. Fine hints of vanilla, tonka bean and an imperceptible touch of undergrowth (in the background) linger on the finish/persistence.

Logo on the cork: A in a circle (Amorim) Dark, intense colour with slight evolution. Very aromatic nose, with ripe, creamy fruit. Delicate on entry, particularly perfumed mid-palate; the wine develops as silky and noble, on a tight framework, rich in flavour, finishing sappy, complex, and ultimately impossible to spit. It’s very good.

With signs of new wood on the palate, this is a wine that maintains the polished feel of the wines from Pichon Lalande. It has a stronger presence of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend than in the past, making it more structured than its predecessors, with a dominance of black currant flavor. It shows the soft side of the vintage, but is also meant for aging.