Palate: Power, dark fruits, cigar box and cardamon with a pleasant touch of peppercorns.
This was tasted alongside a '71 Rinaldi Barolo and a 1983 Mouton. This bottle was all about power and and strength. It was extremely masculine, but very well made. This could last another 30 years, easily, without starting to decline. A great wine! A
I really like the wine. And while we all get different things from wine, I find 82 Pichon Lalande to be elegant, refined and sensuous, and not at all masculine.
It is not a wine I’d hold for 30 years, but you never know.
That wine was beautiful on release and has remained so. Truly a gem.
Of course today’s P-Ls are quite different since they’ve bumped the cabernet up to ~75% from ~55% and reduced the merlot. I’ve always found that strange given the unique – and uniquely alluring – quality of the old P-Ls.
The blend varies from vintage to vintage, with the Merlot at an average of 25% these days. While the Cabernet Sauvignon has increased, the bigger change in the plantings are less Cab Franc and less Petit Verdot. Learn about Chateau Pichon Lalande Pauillac, Complete Guide
The point is that the cepage has changed rather dramatically, with merlot down 10% and the cabernet up 20%, displacing the other two grapes. And I think the impact of the extra cabernet is pretty evident, at least when young.
John… If you follow the link I provided, it gives you the current and previous vineyard cepage. Merlot is now and 32%, it was at 35% previously. That is not a big change. As I was curious, I sent an email asking about the blend in 1982. I’ll let you know when I get a reply.
It seems I was wrong about both the cab level both in the past and now – it was lower then than I recalled and lower now. (I think I’d read that one recent vintage was 75% cab.)
According to the first edition of Parker’s Bordeaux book (1985), it was then:
45% cab
35% merlot
12% cab franc
8% petit verdot
According to the chateau’s web site, the plantings are now:
61% cab
32% merlot
4% cab franc
3% petite verdot
By any reckoning, that’s a pretty big change in the make-up of the wine. The cab franc probably accounted for the green pepper note you often got in the nose – a real signature of the wine for me, but something consumers evidently don’t like.
The web site explains the replanting:
“Since Roederer took over the estate, major work on restructuring the 78-hectare vineyard has been undertaken. Thorough studies of the soils and sub-soils have produced very detailed mapping of the many different plots and better knowledge of the terroir. A replanting programme has been launched to ensure varieties and their root stocks are best suited to the type of soil.”
Not sure that it’s the best Bordeaux I’ve had, but it has been awfully good. The fairly unique thing is that it always been a great bottle throughout it’s lifetime. as best I can tell it never shut down.
Did you or anyone else determine the blend? Had this for the first time last night. Stunning but having trouble determining cepage. I had it blind and was headed right bank as it felt very Merlot driven to me.
My best guess is that with very little selection, and high yields, the blend would be close to the plantings. So, you get roughly 45-50 Cab Sauv, 35-40 Merlot Cab Franc and Petit Verdot.
I’ve had the '82 PLL just 3 times, and it drank very well early at age 12-15. The last taste was just a couple of years ago, and we had a very “green” bottle – lots of herbal components which surprised us. Was it the Petit Verdot or just an off bottle? I dunno.
I can recall buying this wine as a friday treat almost every week when it first came out.
I still recall the price - $29.95.
Expensive at the time, but so worth it for a splurge after a long week of work.
A rare Bordeaux that was quite delicious young.
Yeah–mine was $25–several bottles surprisingly sitting at my wine shop because a distributor had a partial case. Best bottle I had was the first, soon after purchase. Just a knockout. Each bottle since has been excellent, but but none quite up to the first.
I’ve tasted PL 82 many times, 15 bottles or more often.
The best bts. were in about 1997/98, less baby fat than early on, but still full of intense fruit. In the meantime it has turned in a mature complex fine beauty, less seductive but very elegant.
I can understand when some say it was better 20 years ago, but I’d say it’s different and evolved.
However it won’t get any better.
