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Wine Description
The Story
Our Grand Vin Château Pichon Baron, classified as a 2nd Grand Cru Classé in 1855, is made with grapes from the oldest vines on the estate’s historic plots.This quintessential Pauillac offers an intense and profound sensory experience of great complexity. Château Pichon Baron exhibits elegance, intensity and exceptional length on the palate. It is a wine that improves year after year and can age for over 40 years in the cellar.
The reputation of Pichon Baron until the 1960s was superior to that of Pichon Lalande across the road, it was also placed above Pichon Lalande in the Classification of 1855. But on the death of Jean Bouteillier in 1961 its reputation began to sink. His eldest son Bertrand was still young and inexperienced and there was a lack of money for necessary investments leading to a decline in quality of the wines during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s there were signs of recovery but not at the same speed as with many other properties during this time and certainly nowhere near that of Pichon-Lalande that had prospered enormously under the care of May de Lencquesaing to become one of the first "Super-seconds".
Wine Information
The Winemaker Note : Simply huge! A great Cabernet vintage. The regularity of the weather enabled perfect ripening. Picking started on September 23 with a remarkable richness. Slow, careful extraction resulted in fine, elegant tannins. Ageing will reveal this well-balanced vintage, on a par with the greatest.
Harvest :For the Merlot, the weekend of September 21st and 22nd marked a turning point in the phenolic maturity. The early parcels were gathered the 23rd and the 24th. Heavy rain during the night of the 24th forced us to stop on the 25th and to start again on the 26th. The late Merlot and the Cabernet Franc were gathered on the 27th and the 28th, in such a way as to wait for maximum maturity at the limit of an acceptable sanitary state, our sorting tables allowing us to eliminate any traces of mold. The young Cabernet Sauvignon were harvested on September 29th and 30th in a perfect sanitary state and in magnificent sunshine.
Vinification : Thanks to the finesse of the tannins, we were able to carry out long macerations: 20 to 25 days.
Blend : 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot
The old Cabernet Sauvignon on the plateau, which are particularly voluminous, fatty and fleshy, make up the essentiel of Pichon-Longueville.
Ageing : During 15 months, 70% new oak barrels, 30% one-year old barrels
Alcojolic Content : 13°
