TN: 1994 Pichon Comtesse

WINE TALK
1

If you are a fan of rotten cabbage and rotten cauliflower, and moreover have an indestructible stomach, the 1994 Pichon Comtesse is a must have. A faint promise of fruit on the nose remains an unfulfilled promise, but with a lot of imagination, you can detect a hint of sour cherry and rotten plums behind a wall of harsh acidity and mouldy tannin. An indefinable hint of sweetness is the last straw, but in vain… After two hours, we decided to close the chapter 1994 claret once and for all, and the Comtesse went down the drain…

2

You were unlucky to taste an off bottle. We’ve had dozens of bottles of that wine and it is not remotely like you describe. It happens…

Don’t take my word for it.

3

I really like Pichon Lalande in 1994. I don’t mind the less ripe vintages and think they were one of the better 1994s. I’m not trading my 1996s for them, but I enjoy drinking them.

Loved your note Rudi. Not all bottles are good, I guess.

4

Sounds like every time I’ve attempted to stomach the '90…

But if the 94s aren’t bad, they’re still a bore.

5

Disagree about the PLL 90. Just because Parker said it was bad it does not make it so. It is an elegant and complex wine that does not show the vintage but does show the Chateau.

6

Yeah… I’m definitely agreeing with Parker on this one then due to the fact that spitting was 100% necessary on every occasion… from multiple sources. I’m a big PLL fan, but none of its nuances could be considered positive qualities from any of the half case or so that I’ve tasted through. Maybe it’s a great experience 1/10th of the time, but those odds alone would make it a loss in my book. I’ll take the 82, 95,01,03 (granted the 03 is only on 2/3 of the time and haven’t had 96 or 00) any day.

7

That bottle sounds off.

8

Would agree with Blake here on the '90 - I still have a couple bottles in the cellar and someday I hope to be pleasantly surprised, but given the greatness of the vintage, I’m not sure what happened with this normally reliable chateau in that vintage.

9

I still have issues about condemning a whole vintage of a producer’s wine based on a small sample of bottles. We drink bottles and so many variables come into play that it is really not representative. It is ok to talk about individual experiences but when we try to extrapolate…

Cellartracker provides a very different picture for both wines over a significantly larger sample size.

Just saying…

10

Carlo, I can only comment on what I taste, but my comments are based on multiple bottles over the years with multiple tasters - and I have yet to meet anyone who had one of these bottles where I was present that felt the wine was outstanding.

So at a minimum, we have a wine that exhibits a fair amount of bottle variation - and given how consistent this chateau was throughout the entire decade of the 80’s, that in and of itself was/is very surprising. Again, and only IMO, the '89 blows the '90 away - when you consider the “raw materials” provided by both vintages, that is again a surprising result. YMMV [cheers.gif] .

11

In any case, Bob! In comparison to the other top Pauillac wines, the 1990 Pichon Comtesse was rather a disappointment when I opened two bottles shortly after its release in 1993 - especially in comparison to the fantastic Pichon Baron. As a result, I decided to remove the '90 Comtesse from my shopping list. Indeed, the '89 easily blew the '90 away. The same was true for the splendid 1991, one of the best clarets from this underrated vintage. I always thought of this nectar as some kind of redemption for the weak 1990. Obviously, other people have/had more luck with the '90 Comtesse, but I’m not a gambling man.

12

There’s just so much variation in the rustic nature of the 90… I can see how some people would like those flavors, but I think a lot of people are drinking the label and vintage instead of the wine, and only a small subset of people that are overtly opposed to phenolic ripeness and clean winemaking (I don’t mean that as a put-down) will really like the wine. When I think of a wine that is sound, this wine doesn’t check any boxes, but to some it will. Still fun to argue the minutia though!