Château Pichon Comtesse

33250 Pauillac

Tél. : +33 (0)5 56 59 19 40

contact@pichon-comtesse.com

www.pichon-comtesse.com  

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

All about Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Second Cru Classé in 1855 in the Pauillac appellation

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, a second Great Classified Growth in 1855, boasts an exceptional 90-hectare terroir, well situated in the Pauillac appellation since it lies on the banks of the Gironde estuary. Only four families have ever presided over the destiny of this exceptional Left Bank vineyard before the family Champagne House, Louis Roederer, acquired it in 2007, instilling an innovative and ambitious spirit to guarantee the future of this prestigious cru.

Pichon Longueville Comtesse: a history of women at the helm.

Located in the southern part of the Pauillac appellation, on the banks of the Gironde estuary, Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande was first founded by Pierre de Rauzan in 1689. The estate is closely linked to the destiny of another great château, located just across the road from it, and separated by the D2 (the Médoc's route des crus classés): Château Pichon Baron (Pichon-Longueville). This geographical proximity is no coincidence. The two estates formed a single vineyard before they were divided after the death of Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville, in 1850. It was one of his daughters, Virginie de Pichon Longueville - who became Comtesse de Lalande through her marriage to Jacques de Pichon Longueville (first President of the Bordeaux Parliament) - who, along with her two brothers and two sisters, inherited ^3/5ths of their father's vineyard. She bought the shares from her two sisters and decided to rename Pichon Longueville to Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. The estate remained in the same family for over 250 years. Then, in 1925, new owners purchased this second Grand Cru Classé in 1855. Descended from an old family of owners (including Château Siran in Margaux) and Bordeaux brokers, the Miailhe family, through Edouard and Louis Miailhe, acquired this splendid Cru Classé.

In 1978, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing (daughter of Edouard Miailhe) returned to the helm in the purest tradition of the estate. Inheriting the estate, she carried the château's colors high with talent and determination, and took on the role of ambassador for its wines and, more generally, for the wines of the appellation and the Médoc on her many international trips.

Champagne in the Médoc: Maison Roederer.

At the end of 2006, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing sold her château. In January 2007, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, aptly named “Madame la Générale” for her unifying qualities and efficient management, embarked on new projects and moved to South Africa, another great wine-producing country. The estate opened a new chapter in its history with the arrival of a Champagne family and a major Champagne house: Maison Louis Roederer and the Rouzaud family. This change of ownership gave new impetus to this already prestigious cru, while also continuing the château's reputation built up over decades by its previous owner: the constant quest for excellence. For this new impetus given by Frédéric Rouzaud and his family - who also own another 58-hectare growth, Château de Pez in the Saint-Estèphe appellation), the restructuring of the 102-hectare vineyard and new high-performance technical facilities are part of the program to relaunch, as it were, a race for excellence under the responsibility, since 2012, of Nicolas Glumineau. Nicolas Glumineau replaces Sylvie Cazes (a well-known name, as she is the sister of the late Jean-Michel Cazes of Château Lynch-Bages) as Managing Director. Sylvie Cazes had held the position at Pichon from 2007 to 2012 alongside the Rouzaud family, but had recently decided to devote herself fully to the very busy Cité du Vin de Bordeaux project, of which she is President, and which is due to be inaugurated in May 2016. As for Nicolas Glumineau, he had cut his teeth as Technical Director, working alongside the great Jean-Bernard Delmas (the man with 44 vintages of Château Haut-Brion), then General Manager of Château Montrose in Saint-Estèphe, on behalf of the Bouygues brothers, owners of the second Grand Cru Classé en 1855 since 2006.

Work and adjustments in the vineyard for “new-style” wines.

At Pichon Comtesse, in 2009 and again in 2010, we witnessed a turning point in the style of the estate's wines. The initial work undertaken by the Rouzaud family seems to be bearing fruit very quickly. The replanting program they have put in place will clearly improve the match between grape variety, rootstock and soil type. Today, after increasing the presence of Cabernet Sauvignon, the vineyard is composed of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. This benefits both the first wine (Grand vin) and the second wine (Réserve de la Comtesse), which was launched on the market in 1973 by the previous owner.

The wine, which in the 80s was excellent but seemed less massive and closer to the style of Saint-Julien (a neighboring appellation to Pauillac), has a different profile now that the Rouzaud family has decided to add more Cabernet to the blends. As a result, the wine will gain in precision, uprightness, not to say breed. The new winemaking equipment in place since 2013 (the work of Bordeaux architect Philippe Ducos, which took a year to complete) - a completely redesigned gravity-fed vat room (to preserve the integrity of the grapes) with 63 truncated cone-shaped rather than cylindrical vats for finer extractions - will refine the vineyard's parcel-by-parcel management during vinification, giving more identity to the lots to be vinified and, in a way, bringing more dynamism and energy to the wines. With this tool, entirely rethought and optimized down to the smallest detail, cellar master Xavier Pallu is satisfied.

The work also includes two new tasting rooms, on the upper floor of the vat room, with a splendid panoramic view of both the vineyards of Pichon Comtesse and its illustrious neighbor, Château Latour. The wine-tourism aspect is not left out, since the new complex can also accommodate up to 200 people in a reception room and, as part of the tour of the property (by appointment), visitors can take a grand staircase up to a very green terrace. The château has undergone a complete metamorphosis, and the Rouzaud family have left nothing to chance.

Style and personality of Pichon Comtesse de Lalande wines.

As mentioned above, the vineyard of this second Grand Cru Classé in 1855 covers 102 hectares, enabling it to produce 120,000 bottles a year from vines with an average age of 35 years. It's fair to say that this vineyard is an exception on the Pauillac wine map, as 11 of the 102 hectares are located in the Saint-Julien appellation. The soil is typical of Pauillac, with Garonne gravel on a clay matrix. In 2010, the new owners began a biodynamic approach for a third of the vineyard. In 2021, it's the turn of the entire vineyard to go organic. This is a courageous step, given the difficulties associated with the Bordeaux climate (sometimes wet, sometimes dry). The new, gravity-fed vat room, built in 2013, is also combined with a gravity-fed cellar (1800 m2 in all for the new installations), enabling the barrels to be tapped to preserve the subtle expression of the terroir. The “première étiquette” or “Grand Vin” is thus aged for 18 months in barrels, with 50% new wood and 50% barrels of one wine (having been used for one vintage), depending on the vintage profile. La Réserve de la Comtesse, the second wine, uses only 25% new wood during ageing, so as not to mark the wine.

First and second wines are a promise of quality, with elegance on the palate, aromatic complexity and an unrivalled race for the Grand Vin.

Pichon Longueville Comtesse 2020

Harvesting began on September 9 and ended on September 30. Quite a quick harvest after all. A blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. The challenge was to preserve the freshness of the Merlot, while the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petits Verdots were quite remarkable. Pichon Longueville Comtesse 2020 is a very precise wine, with great uprightness and aromatic freshness. The aromas are greedy, very fresh on a base of intense black fruits. The palate is straightforward and lively, with a huge mid-palate but fine tannins. The grapes have reached beautiful, precise maturity. You can feel it in the wine. The finish is long, with a crunchy, very present fruitiness that imposes itself through its persistence. A great Pichon Comtesse, reminiscent of the 2018 and 2019 vintages, themselves highly successful on the estate and in Pauillac as a whole, not to say in the entire Bordeaux wine-growing region. A wonderful wine for laying down!

La Réserve de la Comtesse 2023

This second wine needs no introduction and is one of the best investments in the second wine category. The wine is demanding, judging by its complexity and a certain power (which is rare for a wine made from younger vines and lots deemed unfit to make the first wine). The blend is made up of 30% Merlot, 60% Cabernet Sauvignon (hence its straightforward, fresh mouthfeel), 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. La Réserve de la Comtesse 2023 - which marks the ^50th anniversary of this second wine - has a nose of disconcerting aromatic purity, revealing notes of black berries, crushed blackberry, then floral (lilac or wisteria), evolving with agitation to a graphite (pencil lead) side. On the palate, the sensation is both fresh and soft, with a caressing, velvety texture, ending on a spicy note (probably Petit Verdot). The whole is well-balanced and lively. A real success!

The great vintages of Château Pichon Comtesse:

1945-1947-1949-1953-1955-1959-1961-1970-1975-1981-1982-1985-1986-1988-1989-1990-1995-1996-2005-2009-2010-2015-2016-2018-2019-2020-2022-2023