
Bolgheri Le Serre Nuove, Tenuta Dell'OrnellaiaĬhâteau Pichon-Longueville Baron, a leading Pauillac 2éme Cru Classé estate, is one of Bordeaux's most illustrious "super seconds".However, in Pauillac, as in other old-world wine regions, some winemakers are working to develop softer red wines that maintain the local wines’ traditional substance and flavours, but are more approachable immediately upon release. Such grapes make powerful wines that may age and improve for decades. Nearby rivers and the Atlantic Ocean modulate temperatures, preventing the grapes from ripening too quickly. Struggling a bit for water, the vines produce grapes with high tannins and concentrated juices. Pauillac, part of the Médoc region on Bordeaux’s Left Bank, has gravelly and well-drained soils that force vines to grow long and strong roots. Though winemaking techniques and microclimates vary throughout Pauillac, producing some variations in style, classic Pauillac wines have juicy flavours of blackcurrant and cedar, often with coffee, chocolate and graphite notes. These and other Pauillac chateaux produce robust, full-flavored and long-lived red wines made from Cabernet-based blends. Pauillac is Bordeaux’s most acclaimed appellation, the only one with three Premier Cru properties: Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Mouton-Rothschild and Château Latour. The powerful finish blends iron-clad tannins and a hint of loam. This is mouthfilling, with terrifically dense yet graceful layers of roasted coffee, warm fig sauce, currant preserves and Kenya AA coffee. Wine Spectator (James Molesworth) 95-98/100 Wonderfully smoky fruit, quite compacted still with great natural depth of Cabernet Sauvignon and a great future. Tar too! Reminds me of the 1990 PB.ĭecanter Magazine (Steven Spurrier) 18,5/20
#CHATEAU PICHON LONGUEVILLE 2010 FULL#
Full body, with velvety yet poished tannins and a long, long finish. This has wonderful purity of fruit with currants, blackberries and licorice on the nose and palate. James Suckling (James Suckling) 95-96/100 Very persistent and very “classic” towards the finish. The palate is full-bodied with very fine tannins, good acidity, like the 2009, a Pauillac imbued with great symmetry and focus, very elegant and refined towards the finish that for once reminds me of the Pichon over the road.

It opens beautifully with aeration, blackberry, a touch of cassis, cedar and graphite, but a little gentler than other Pauillac 2010s at this early juncture.

This has a refined, much more understated nose than the 2009 that grabbed you by the lapels. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2040.Ī blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot, 13.7% alcohol with a pH of 3.7 and total acidity of 3.3gms/L that will be raised in 80% new oak (the remainder one year old). Stunningly pure and unctuously textured with high but sweet, well-integrated tannins, this superstar of the vintage is definitely a wine to purchase as a future. Black/purple-colored with super concentration and richness as well as full body, it offers an awesome display of creme de cassis, blackberry liqueur, licorice, camphor and spring flowers. It was absolutely compelling on each of the three times I tasted it. Kudos to proprietor AXA and general director Christian Seeley. 2010: A prodigious, blockbuster effort from Pichon Longueville Baron, the 2010 is reminiscent of this estate’s titanic offerings in 19, but may be even greater with 30 years of longevity.
