CHÂTEAU PICHON LALANDE
2015 2ème Cru Classé Pauillac
So silky and suave, the fruit - blueberry and blackberry - and tannins all coming together in velvet power. Almost as serenely velvety as the Reserve de la Comtesse, just a bit more serious. Simply fab. I want this one in my cellar. This is dense with tannin, but it seems simply to be there to lift and exalt. It's the fantastic succulent black fruit which is so expressive and long. Rating: 94-95 L&S (Apr 2016)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2015 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande has an exquisite bouquet with blackberry, mint, meat juice and sage. It's perhaps not as noble as Pichon Baron at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy red berry fruit and a killer line of acidity. This is slightly more savory than the Pichon Baron due to the higher percentage of Merlot. Utterly delicious with a long and tender finish, there is a tingle of black pepper that lingers on the aftertaste. Superb. Drinking range: 2025 - 2052 Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jun 2025)
A ton of ripe raspberry fruit character, with smoked earth, rosemary and sage character, and tannins that are just a little angular right now, as it is fairly closed down. Things will burst back out over the next few years but I would strongly recommend waiting. 60% new oak, 39hl/h. Harvest 60% new oak. Drinking range: 2025 - 2035 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, Decanter (Sept 2021)
The 2015 Pichon Lalande has a sophisticated bouquet of blackberry, pencil shavings, black pepper and discreet touches of wild mint, all beautifully defined and focused. There is some quality Cabernet here. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannin, superb acidity, gentle grip and satisfying tension toward the fresh, vivid finish. One of the best Pauillacs of 2015, this is a magnificent wine from Nicolas Glumineau and his team. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting. Rating: 96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jul 2019)
This shows spices, pepper, blueberries and blackcurrants on the nose. Full body, very polished tannins and a long and beautiful finish. Shows such gorgeous texture. Precise and transparent. Drinking range: 2022 - Rating: 97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Feb 2018)
The 2015 Pichon Comtesse is a towering wine, as it has always been. Rich, sumptuous and totally hedonistic, the 2015 melds together intense fruit with structure. Far from an easygoing wine, the 2015 is going to need a number of years and will then drink well for several decades. Grilled herbs, smoke, new leather and licorice are some of the many notes that are layered into the dark-fleshed fruit for complexity. As good as the 2015 is today, it also has room to grow. Technical Director Nicolas Glumineau has done a tremendous job with the 2015s at Pichon Comtesse. The blend is 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, aged 18 months in oak, 55% new. Drinking range: 2025 - 2055 Rating: 98 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2018)
Mid crimson. Heady and dense and so thick it almost tastes as though you could stand a spoon up in this wine!! Lots of fun. Not too sweet and masses of structure but maybe slightly less sophisticated than the other Pichon? Drinking range: 2025 - 2045 Rating: 17.5+ Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Nov 2017)
This is a delicious Pichon, showing the château’s classic femininity and poise. The Cabernet is particularly fine and aromatic, providing the core of the wine, and is complemented by the spice, perfume and plushness of the other varieties. Brilliant winemaking. Drinking range: 2022 - 2035 Rating: 96 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2016)
In the 2015 vintage this is a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The alcohol level is 13.6%, This has a very evocative nose, clearly showing a very confident style, brimming with notes of dark fruits, black plums, black cherries, overlaid with a fresh blackcurrant intensity too. It all feels very pure and open, and accessible. The palate is more reserved than the second wine, fresh, with a real middle of ripe tannins, rolling and velvety, with all those beautifully expressed black fruits wrapped around them. Real texture and confidence here, a wonderful combination of structure and fruit. Fresh and pure and bright. A fantastic wine, and one of the best vintages of Pichon-Lalande I have tasted in quite a few years. Tasted twice, although to be straight the sample presented at the château to which this note largely relates showed better than the sample I tasted at the UGC tasting. Rating: 17.5-18.5/20 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2016)
Fragrance and depth on the nose but a sense of over-ripeness puts it out of step with the vintage at the moment – even with the Comtesse lift and freshness. But time will probably be on its side. Drinking range: 2023 - 2035 Rating: 92 Steven Spurrier (Apr 2016)
The 2015 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a blend of 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot that was picked from 10 September with the young Merlot, finishing on 9 October. It includes 12.5% vin de presse (which incidentally was included in the blend). It has a very pure bouquet with expressive Merlot imparting black cherries and wild strawberry aromas that are embroidered with a thread of graphite. I noticed how it errs more towards black fruit with extended aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy tannin on the entry, the Cabernet Sauvignon here in the driving seat despite that level of Merlot trying to get in a look. Together they give a sense of completeness to this Pichon Lalande that has semblances towards the great 1996. Whereas this Pauillac has a tendency to be more approachable than others, in fact, the 2015 has the backbone and substance to suggest that it will require a minimum of ten years' ageing, but patience will be amply rewarded. Nicolas Glumineau has overseen a quite brilliant Pichon Lalande here. Drinking range: 2027 - 2060 Rating: 95-97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
A dazzling, towering wine, the 2015 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande has put on considerable weight in just the last few months. Today, the 2015 is vivid and intense, with a huge backbone of tannin and marvelous complexity. In 2015, the Cabernet Sauvignon is pushed higher as the Merlot was less consistent in its ripening. Graphite, charcoal, tobacco, crème de cassis and new leather are some of the signatures in what is shaping up to be a super-classic Pichon-Lalande. Simply put, the 2015 is one of the wines of the vintage. Rating: 96-98 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2016)
This has excellent energy, featuring voluptuous blackberry and black currant fruit lined with cassis bush, bay leaf, wet stone and iron notes, with sweet tobacco filling in the background. The finish is broad and long, with a nice graphite edge. This is Pauillac. Rating: 94—97 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2016)
This is absolutely beautiful with super tannin quality that gives you the most silky texture. Precise. It goes for minutes. Full and concentrated yet all in balance. Rating: 96-97 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Mar 2016)
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Pauillac Deuxième cru 1855 Facing Château Latour across the road, at the southern end of Pauillac, are the twin Château Pichons. Originally one estate, the two were divided in 1850 on the death of Joseph Pichon. His son Raoul inherited the title of Baron de Longueville and the vineyards of Château Pichon Longueville Baron de Longueville, whilst his daughters inherited the portion that became Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. The only daughter to produce off-spring was Marie-Laure who had married Comte Henri de Lalande in 1818 and it was her descendents, therefore, who shaped the future of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (or Pichon Comtesse as it is often more conveniently known). The two estates continued to be run as a single vineyard for another ten years, allowing them jointly to be awarded 2nd Growth status in 1855. Pichon Comtesse is now owned by the Rouzard family, owners of the Champagne house of Louis Roederer. Under the ownership of May de Lencquesaing in the final quarter of the 20th Century, the vineyard area of Pichon Comtesse grew from around 40ha to today's 75ha. The vines are 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel, with the wine spending 18 months in wood (50% new). Pichon Comtesse produce one of the most highly regarded second wines - Réserve de la Comtesse (recently renamed Pichon Comtesse La Réserve') - which rivals many other estate's grand vins. The healthy reputation that Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande enjoys puts it clearly in the mould of a "super second" - those 2nd Growth estates who's wines merit comparison with the Premier Grand Cru Classés. Pichon Comtesse has had the better of comparisons with its sibling Pichon Baron whose fortunes waned during the 20th Century even if, today, they are on a more equal footing. It is inevitable that the two Pichons will be compared with one another, with Comtesse being a more subtle seductive wine than its slightly foresquare namesake.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.