Château Pichon Comtesse: Tasting & Drinking
Now it would not be true to say that I have acquaintances that would sell their a kidney for a case of Château Pichon Comtesse (although sometimes I have wondered whether they might), but certainly I have met many who hold the wines of this particular Pichon estate in very high regard. And rightly so. For the last few decades the wines have been some of the most consistent in Bordeaux, with only the occasional blip although this has occurred in perfectly adequate vintages when one might have expected better. Such vintages included 1990 and 2005, and a handful between the two, matching up rather neatly with the thoughts of Sylvie Cazes on sliding quality during the latter years of the Lencquesaing era. Having said that, there are lesser vintages when the team at Pichon Comtesse turned out an excellent wine against the odds, with the 1991 being a prime example.
Certainly the wines of Château Pichon Comtesse are distinctive, sometimes exotic, and very frequently of high quality. They can on occasion be spotted in blind tastings based on these characteristics. More importantly, they are fabulous to savour at home, with food, when they shine. Château Pichon Comtesse has long staked what I consider to be a valid claim for the title of super-second, alongside the likes of Château Léoville-Las-Cases and Château Ducru-Beaucaillou. Very recent vintages, tasted en primeur or at two years just after bottling, show that this level of quality has been maintained if not bolstered. This comes through very nicely in the 2015 vintage, made under the watchful eye of Nicolas Glumineau, and which has 68% Cabernet Sauvignon. I personally feel it is one of the best wines made here in many years, and in this belief I know I am not alone.
One quick note before I present my tasting notes. While the full title of the estate is Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, only people with a good memory and far too much time on their hands actually use this moniker. In Bordeaux, and perhaps in other non-Anglophone European countries, many people abbreviate it to Château Pichon Comtesse, which I rather like, as it sets it up against its neighbour and peer, Château Pichon Baron. In the UK, however, when I first met the wines during the 1990s, it was universally referred to as Château Pichon-Lalande; this is the name it went by when I first tasted it, and I continued to use this name for thirty-or-so years. And with some validity, if you look back to the vintages from the 1970s, the wines were labelled as Château Pichon-Lalande. What else should one call it?
Now, though, I have acquiesced. Château Pichon Comtesse it is.
To conclude, Château Pichon Comtesse is a property where, if your wallet can take the strain, in recent vintages – the Glumineau era, if you will – you may buy with confidence. And with a string of successful vintages under his belt, including stellar wines in 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2022, I think we can expect more great things in coming decades from Château Pichon-Lalande. Sorry, I mean Château Pichon Comtesse. (6/3/07, updated 23/9/09, 8/6/11, 10/11/12, 12/1/14, 28/8/16, 24/7/22, 20/1/26)
