Château Pichon-Lalande: Vineyards
The vineyards of Château Pichon-Lalande amount to 89 hectares, mostly in the commune of Pauillac although there are also some in St Julien, and as recently as 1959 there were some bottles labelled as AC Pauillac and others AC St Julien (the wine, apparently, was the same regardless). Under the tenure of May-Eliane Lencquesaing the vineyard expanded considerably, from an area of about 40 hectares at the time she took control, up to the size it is today. A major acquisition was made in the late 1960s with the purchase of 10 hectares of Pauillac vines situated between Château Pichon-Baron, Château Latour, Château Batailley and Château Haut-Bages-Libéral, whereas another 5 hectares came to the estate when they were purchased by Michel Delon during his relatively brief stewardship.
The major part of the vineyard, a not-quite-unbroken 90-hectare block (not all of which is planted – se further down the page for more details), is situated to the west and south of Château Pichon-Baron, on the opposite side of the D2 which runs through the village. This is an important fact if trying to understand Château Pichon-Lalande. Although the château overlooks the Gironde, and it is surrounded by vines, these almost all belong to Château Latour rather than Château Pichon-Lalande. West of the vineyard of Château Latour is Château Pichon-Baron, and west of that is the main part of the Pichon-Lalande vineyard. This places it some way inland; travel directly south into the commune of St Julien and the vines are on a line with Clos du Marquis and Château Talbot. This only makes the high quality of the wines made at Château Pichon-Lalande all the more remarkable.
