My wife and I were extremely fortunate to be able to secure a visit to Pichon Comtesse last Friday. We were told that normally the only visitors allowed are from the trade, but I was able to talk to some of their staff at the UGC in San Francisco in January and it went from there. Pichon Comtesse was the favorite chateaux of our late friend Dave L, who kindly shared some great bottles with us, including the 1982. I have wanted to visit since then!
The chateaux itself was closed for renovation. They are going to be converting it into a few hotel rooms, according to our tour guide. The grounds are really impressive. There is only one portion of the vineyard on the east side of the D2, which is just north of the chateau. The rest are across the D2 next to Pichon Baron. The tasting room looks out to the Latour vineyard and the water tower. Just spectacular! The cellars were renovated a little over ten years ago and uses gravity flow to move the wine into stainless steel vats.
We were able to taste 3 wines, the 2019 de Pez, 2019 Reserve de la Comtesse, and the 2016 Pichon Comtesse. Both of the 2019’s were very good, and can be enjoyed now. They have an abundant amount of fruit and smooth tannins. The 2016 Pichon Comtesse is an absolutely stunning wine. I have had it a few times and it just keeps getting better and better. All in all, this was another visit that exceeded all my expectations and reminded me of why I love Bordeaux so much!
