Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2005

The Château Pichon-Lalande 2005, so divisive at birth yet, as I expected from the outset, is maturing into a lovely Pauillac. It offers compelling tobacco and graphite scents on the nose, belying the Merlot content of this blend, reserved at first but opening gloriously in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins and well-judged acidity. There is an effortless quality to this Pichon-Lalande. It is not the most powerful or decadent Pauillac, but it is very sophisticated and refined.

This needs time in the glass, but unfurls to reveal cedar, cinnamon, tobacco, cassis and rose notes. It's heady and confident stuff that I've tasted several times over the past few months and have been hugely impressed by, especially with food. 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.

The 2005 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a wine from the château's less brilliant period. In this tasting, it is dark, heavy and clumsy. All that said, the 2005 has aged relatively well; there is just not much complexity to speak of. Muted, unfocused aromatics and dull fruit are penalizing. It is truly remarkable to see how much the Pichon Comtesse has progressed since this wine was made.

The past 5 years have been good for this wine. Much better than previous bottles, now you find more of everything expected from Pichon Lalande. The wine is medium-bodied, lush, round, soft and loaded with ripe, fresh, sweet, dark red fruits, plums, tobacco, spice and earth. The plummy, red berry finish offers alternating notes of sweet red fruits and bright, crisp cranberries coupled with sensual textures. Give this a few more years, or 90 minutes in the decanter.

Made in a more mid-weight, elegant style that certainly brings charm, the 2005 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande has a pretty perfume of red currants, plums, spring flowers, and spicy, truffly, earthy nuances. With medium-bodied richness, an elegant, seamless mouthfeel, and polished tannins, it’s not a blockbuster but is one of those wines that grows on you over the course of an evening. While today’s releases bring another level of everything, it’s still an outstanding wine that should keep for another decade.

Bright garnet with a ruby rim. The bouquet is discreet: blotting-paper note, candied fruit, a hint of lemon balm, mineral, with almost no expression on the nose. Juicy on the palate; here too the aromatics are discreet and for now still in the background, with well-supporting acidity and a slightly capsular feel on the tongue.

64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. Deep dark garnet. Intense bouquet, opening floral with lovely fresh Cabernet spice, then full and supportive, cassis, blackberries, black cherries; a fine, even silky fat coats the nose; a hint of coffee and dark roasted notes. Complex palate, finely woven, creamy, already endowed with irrepressible charm. Unlike the other Pauillac rivals, this wine banks on elegance and finesse. P.S. After the 2005 we also tasted the 2004 (19/20), which was bottled a week later. A brilliant, great Pichon-Lalande, full, with aromatic Cabernet sweetness. We then got in the car and drove from Pauillac toward Bordeaux. The aftertaste lingered pleasantly almost to Margaux, for 10 minutes, i.e., 17 kilometers of driving, clinging to the palate with a dreamy cassis-chocolate sweetness. Back to the 2005. The yield is stated at 47 hl/ha. That’s a lot compared with the other Pauillac rivals. It may be why it is the “most elegant,” and why we only rounded up on the second tasting. 07: Tasted after the 06. A splendid, sweet, full wine with power and sex appeal. Tasted again in Geneva in autumn. Sexy, opulent, sweet and erotic. 08: Of whorish beauty. This is not meant disrespectfully. Beautiful women must be won. Beautiful whores can be bought. Just like this Pichon-Lalande. (19/20). 12: Deep purple, dense core, garnet shimmer at the rim. Currently a bit reserved, fine geraniol notes in the black-berried bouquet, a touch of clove and dark noble woods. Firm, compact on the palate, meaty with reserves still in demand. It will probably only start in about five years. For now it cannot quite hold its earlier score. (18/20). 15: Creamy bouquet, surprisingly open, chocolate Bounty notes, cassis and dried licorice. Creamy palate, tannins are rich and round, the fruit is fading and the first earthy tones mingle in the base aroma. Not a great Pichon-Lalande, but a particularly sexy Pauillac. (18/20). 16: Very dark, dense color, no signs of maturity yet. On the nose dark bread, a hint of caramel, rock candy and sandalwood, coffee touch, a beautiful black pepper spice, thyme and rosemary. On the second nose: gorgeous cassis perfume. Dense on the palate, generous extract, both structured and fleshy, showing beautiful balance and a dreamlike length. The tannins show appealing maturity, so despite being too young it already gives some pleasure. I estimate its best drinking window from 2023. A precision Pichon-Lalande. (19/20). 16: Dark violet-garnet. Precise, fresh, floral and dark-fruited bouquet, lots of cassis and dark noble woods. It presents itself straight-lined and you can clearly feel its great potential. On the palate it conveys a stoic calm, long through the midpalate, everything is in the right place and the wine marches in the direction of a very homogeneous beauty Pauillac. First maturity is there, but it will certainly gain a lot in aromatics over the next years. (19/20). 21: Dark garnet, showing almost black reflections at the center. Spontaneous bouquet, straightforward and direct, fine floral hints from the spicy Cabernet share, blueberries, vanilla seeds and licorice. Very present on the palate, the tannins are rounded and show quite some charm, bundled finish with the typical, slightly green Pichon touch. Unfortunately costs twice as much on the market as the 2004 for the same level of performance. (19/20).

A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, the 2005 Pichon Lalande is deep garnet-brick in color. It prances out with a gorgeous perfume of rose oil, licorice, and chocolate-covered cherries, over a core of warm cassis, redcurrant jelly, and sassafras. Medium-bodied, the palate delivers exquisitely soft, silky tannins and seamless freshness to frame the elegant black and red fruit layers, finishing long and perfumed. Tasted at the Chateau, it's amazing how much this wine has woken up since I last tasted it about a year ago, and it still seems to have a lot more left to give!

Cedar and spice on the nose; a powerful wine built on very firm tannins, showing a more Médoc-like character than usual. Slight lack of creaminess.

A wine in the “Comtesse” style—round, opulent and silky.

Dark color, of normal intensity and slightly evolved. Moderately aromatic nose with ripe, creamy fruit. Delicate on the attack, melting on the mid-palate, very aromatic; the wine caresses the palate, savory, before showing a touch of austerity, yet deep on the finish.

In recent years, Pichon Comtesse has developed an elegance all its own, with great style, smoothing out the real intensity of the wine. This 2005 continues in that tradition, a spice, fruity wine, which has restraint as well as hidden power.