Fine Wine: Chateau Pichon-Longueville Vertical
Thursday 11 October 2012
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Join us for our MOST premium fine wine vertical to date, on the Super Second Growth of Pichon-Longueville Baron in Pauillac, Bordeaux. The tasting will discover several wonderful vintages spanning three decades including three of the 'great' vintages; 1982, 1990 and 2005.
Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, a leading Pauillac 2éme Cru Classé estate, is one of Bordeaux's most illustrious "super seconds". In 1987 it was bought by the AXA Millésimes Group, who also own Cantenac-Brown, Petit-Village and Suduiraut. AXA built a state of the art winery and cellar at Pichon-Longueville Baron, while, in 2000, Christian Seely took over from Jean-Michel Cazesas as general manager. Pichon-Longueville-Baron's 73-hectare vineyard (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc) runs adjacent to that of Château Latour and lies on deep gravel beds. The wines are definitive Pauillac; structured and powerful with layers of complexity.
If a 2nd Growth were to be elevated up into the heights of the 1st Growths, like Latour and Lafite, then Pichon-Longueville Baron would be a very strong contender.
Wines on Tasting (7):
- 1982 – 18.5 CC, 18 JR, 94 WS, 92 T (£225)
- 1990 – 18 CC, 18 JR, 94 WS, 93 T, 5 D (£225)
- 1995 – 17 JR, 89 T, 4 D (£105)
- 1996 – 17 CC, 16 JR, 90 T, 4 D (£125)
- 1999 – 17 CC, 16.5 JR, 90 T, 4 D (£90)
- 2005 – 17.5 JR, 94 WS, 94 T, 5 D (£115)
- 2006 – 15.5 JR, 92 WS, 92 T, 5 D (£85)
CC – Clive Coates MW, a leading English critic on Bordeaux (out of 20)
JR – Jancis Robinson MW (& her team), a leading English critic (out of 20)
WS – Robert Parker (& his team), a leading American critic (out of 100)
T – Stephen Tanzer, a leading American critic (out of 100)
D – Decanter Wine Magazine (out of 5)
£ – price per bottle, currently from Fine & Rare Wines (prices are continuing to increase)