Château Pibran: Tasting & Drinking
In previous incarnations of this profile of Château Pibran I have debated with myself, and anybody else who cares to read, the relative merits of some recent vintages. My conclusions were slightly confusing, as despite all the work put in by Christian Seely and his team I found I had a penchant for the 1996 vintage over more recent releases, in particular the 2004 and 2006 vintages, which came form an era in which Merlot was favoured, and where perhaps all the work but in by AXA Millésimes was still not bearing fruit.
Looking back now, it is clear that quality has risen under the AXA Millésimes regime, but it is really towards the end of the first decade of the new millennium that this becomes apparent. The 2009 and 2010 vintages were both very good; but then, you may argue, of course they are. These were both great vintages for Bordeaux, after all. But the quality was upheld in 2011, a much more difficult vintage, a fact which must surely be traced back to the work of Cazes, Seely, Matignon and the rest of the AXA Millésimes team at this time. Admittedly, the 2012 was not so strong in character, but then that criticism can be laid against many wines of the Médoc in that vintage.
The 2013 and 2014 vintages did not set my tastebuds alight (this is true on many estates, not just here – the former vintage was desultory, the latter over-rated) but in subsequent vintages we see a very successful run of good quality. The 2015 was good, the 2016 even better, and clearly one of the best wines made here for many years. The 2017 was not bad considering the frost damage which defined the vintage, while the 2018, 2019 and 2020 vintages were all super-reliable (albeit not quite at the level of the 2016). Of more recent years, the 2022 is by far the best, with a decent 2023, and some rather less enthralling results in 2021 and 2024, but these were two very difficult vintages.
Surprisingly, and perhaps disappointingly, there was no 2025 Pibran released, as in this very warm, concentrated, low-yield year, the team blended the Pibran crop with the fruit used for the second labels of Pichon Baron.
On the whole, the Château Pibran of the 21st century is a good source of reliable and good-value Pauillac, something that is extraordinarily hard to track down these days. The quality of the wines can, on occasion, challenge that of the Pichon Baron second labels. These are wines the AXA Millésimes team can be proud of and wines I would happily drink. (19/9/07, updated 15/8/13, 29/7/26)
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