The 2010 Pichon Longueville Comtesse Lalande is a rare and elegant Pauillac wine. The nose gives off fresh, intense, and dense dark fruits scents suggesting a lovely texture, with a bursting wide range of aromas: cherry, dark berries, raspberries, cinnamon, and violet. The neat and vibrant attack is followed by a full, firm structure without being coarse. On the contrary, the tannins are extremely refined albeit significantly thick. Overall, the 2010 Pichon Longueville Comtesse Lalande offers freshness, rich flavours, and structure: truly a masterpiece!
Wine Advocate-Parker : The 2010 Pichon Lalande is performing extremely well and at the top of the range I predicted several years ago. A final blend dominated much more by Cabernet Sauvignon than usual (66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and the rest Petit Verdot), the wine is a tighter, more tannic and structured version of this famed Pauillac, which often tends to have more of a St-Julien-like personality than most Pauillacs. Structured, backward and tannic, yet showing a fat mid-palate that is more savory, broader and more expansive than I remember from barrel, this wine is somewhat reminiscent of the 1986, given the Cabernet Sauvignon domination of the blend. Full-bodied, impressively endowed, and less sexy and velvety than normal, this is a somewhat different style of Pichon Lalande than most readers have been used to. Whether you like it more or less will depend on your point of view, but this wine, unlike most Pichon Lalandes, needs a good 5-7 years of cellaring and should keep for 30+ years.
Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Wines, available at Millesima - Fine Wine Expert - online or at our NYC store. Provenance guaranteed. Advice and services at 212-639-9463.
