Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2015 Pauillac

The seductive fruit is so typical of this historic estate with the enticing nose of pure cassis fruit and hints of cocoa. The ripe blackcurrant and cedar flavours combine with a touch of sweetness to produce a very generous palate. This wine fundamentally tastes just as Pauillac should: silky, creamy and lush; ripe, fleshy and juicy. There is concentration here, as well as balance, and the cool freshness one has come to expect of wines from 2015 vintage.

68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot

Pichon Lalande is often judged on its relationship to its namesake and opposite neighbour, Pichon Baron, and understandably so; what this overlooks (and we use the term carefully) is that Pichon Lalande adjoins the venerable terroir of Chateau Latour, arguably the finest piece of vineyard real estate on the Left Bank. From their stunning new glass-and-steel winery one is afforded a vista that is virtually unmatched in Bordeaux – across several hectares of Cabernet and Merlot vines, straight onto the Gironde, via the hallowed house of Latour and its famous squat stone tower. This is no uneasy neighbour; at its best, Lalande stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the First Growths. If Pichon Baron boasts the power and masculinity of Latour, then Pichon Lalande sports its elegance, perfume, clarity of vineyard and sensual texture. Since Nicolas Glumineau took over the reins the estate has delivered a string of exceptional wines with the run from 2015 to 2019 as good as anything the estate has produced.

This estate dates back to the 1680s, when Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan, a wealthy bourgeois trader from Bordeaux, bought some vineyards near the Latour fiefdom and established a wine-growing estate. From the beginning the Pichon Longueville baronesses were a brilliant and strong feminine influence. Virginie Countess de Lalande continued this tradition in the 1850s, but during troubled times her descendents had to sell the estate. In spite of the unfavourable economic climate, in 1925 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande was bought by Edouard and Louis Miailhe, who came from an old land-owning family of Bordeaux brokers. These two courageous men implemented painstaking restructuring and management of the estate, bringing it back to life once more. Edouard’s daughter, May Eliane de Lencquesaing, took over in 1978 and the estate was sold to Louis Roederer in 2007.