TNs: Pichons and Palmer

Nice to see some younger Bordeaux for a change. They are all very pure, nicely ripe and oozing class. WOTN for me was the 09 Pichon Lalande.
2009 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Super wine. Still extremely young, wonderful purple colour. Dark black fruits, knife edge blance, silky tannins. Loved it. Pure class.
2010 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Bigger, richer, more tannin and linear acidity. Fresh cassis, brambly fruits. This will need some serious time. The table though superior to the 2009, but my money was on the 2009.

2009 Pichon-Longueville Baron
Bigger, grippier, more surly than the Lalandes without quite the focus. Still very good, with succulent black fruits that are fully ripe. Does need plenty of time.

2010 Pichon-Longueville Baron
A riper expression with firm, drying tannins. A bit of a bruiser at this stage, but plenty of stuffing for the long haul.

2006 Chateau Palmer
Truffle, oak, leather, mid weight, lovely shape. Still has a good acid line, but is really drinking rather nicely despite its youth. Excellent.

2010 Chateau Palmer
This has a capital P for potential. Good density, but there’s a fineness to the wine as well. The tannins are very firm at this stage, but they are ripe and contribute significant mouth feel. I would rather drink the 2006 today.

Nice to see the Pichons side by side.

We had a Bordeaux off line recently. Amongst others we had the the 1996 Lalande and Baron side by side. Both exquisite. Difficult to pick the winner. ( tasted blind)

Thanks for the early look on those. I’ll be waiting 5-10 years to start drinking them.

Pichon-Comtesse is, along with HB, surely my favourite house in Bordeaux for reds. Got to taste the 2010 back in 2014 at the Chateau and I echoed then your note about time:

"2010 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

They had opened this for some testing. hurrah for us. This is 66% CS, 24% merlot, 7% CF, 3% PV (BTW, vines’ average age is 35 years). Astrid, our guide, describes this as an “intelligent” wine and boy, is she right. This has spices–saffron, nutmeg perhaps, cumin…and fruit. Cassis, violet, chocolate and black cherry are only sparks of a very thoughtful whole. Boy—structure and lines of a titan. Not heavy and not tannic, but amazing lines, so, so deep. In some obscure way, it has the presence that I get in a port, an attention-getting presence that says “look and admire and lay me down to sleep so you get the most out of me”. Because this needs 15 years at least. This is powerfully lovely and I find myself thinking of a score of 92 on potential alone and also thinking that this could someday be one of the great wines this estate has produced. It certainly does have the “effortless nobility” that I’ve equated with the plus vintages of this wine."

Both PC and PB excelled even in the troublesome 2011 vintage. From a UGC event a few years ago:

"2011 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Nicolas Glumineau was fun to talk to here. And this is a Pichon-Lalande all right–blackberry, cassis and tobacco combo with blueberry and violet edges. I’m kind of surprised—this is already fairly yummy, redcurrant, black raspberry and pain grille–quite lovely. #5

2011 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron

Enjoyed talking to the rep here as well, along with some of the other tasters at the table. 80% CS, 18% merlot, rest CF I think. More rusticity than the Comtesse, but in a likeable way. Very intense thread of dark chocolate (a theme that runs through a few of the reds this year). This, too, has its share of class, enjoyable meditation wine, yet with a bright edge too. Blackberry, black plum and tiny bit of espresso. #9"


A little tanjink, in 2017 I was fortunate enough to have the 79 PC twice—once in February in SF, once in November in DC. Both times it was mesmerizing for me, taking WOTN in February and #2 in November at 2 great dinners.

Thanks for these fine notes, Kent.

Mike

Thanks for the updated note on 2010 Palmer. For me, one of the greatest young Bordeaux I have tasted, sounds as if you are not the the fan that I am.

I had a chance to taste the 09 and 10 Pichon Lalande next to each other a while ago and had the same reaction you did. The 2009 was a better and more complete wine today, it had great texture and finesse with power. The 2010 was spikier and more tannic and a long way from being ready. As with your group some said the 2010 had more potential but I’d put my money on the wine that’s more fun today.

I found the 2009 PLL had a nice green herbal note to it along with the deep fruit, did you pick that up too?

Mark, really enjoyed the 2010 Palmer, just looking a bit elemental at the moment, but yes it will be majestic.

Marcus, didn’t really see the herbal note in 09 PLL - in fact at the table it was commented on the ripeness of all the wines. I guess we recall the green meanies of many wines from the 80s. It was also very pleasing to note the complete absence of brett.

I want some herbal, cooler, green in my Bordeaux. But I may be in the minority.

Thanks for the notes Kent.