2022, Château Pichon Baron, PAUILLAC 2ème Grand Cru Classé

Bordeaux Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot

This great 73 hectare 2nd growth has been producing top class Pauillac since the late 1980's when Jean-Michel Cazes of Lynch Bages took control and re-vitalised the property. In recent years, under the ownership of AXA insurance the quality continues to rise. The 2022 is 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot.

Pichon Longueville’s new Technical Director, Pierre Montégut, has made a flying start. Using his harvesting experience from Suduiraut, the picking team undertook several tries to ensure each sub-plot achieved optimal ripeness. Vinifications were equally fastidious and gentle, resulting in a Pauillac of immense precision and charm. Justerini & Brooks, London.

The 2022 Pichon Baron has wonderful precision on the nose, with intense blackberry and bilberry fruit, crushed stone and graphite. The oak is seamlessly integrated. The palate is tensile right from the start. Taut and linear, fresh, quite saline with a nuanced touch of black pepper toward the finish. Real pedigree and sophistication here, this is a magnificent Pichon-Baron that achieves a new level of precision thanks to the more piecemeal Sauternes-inspired harvest in tandem with their new winery. 96-98 Neal Martin, Vinous.

Beautiful fragrance, lots of fresh and ripe black and red bramble fruit - so alive and expressive on the nose with liquorice, wet stones and cedar spicing. Smooth, ample and full in the mouth, but not overly textured or plush. There’s a real refinement to the tannic structure, clearly giving the frame to the wine but detailed and precise with edges of liquorice, slate, dark chocolate, cedar and tobacco. It balances richness, intensity and concentration with sleekness, bright acidity and a real charm to the juicy fruit. Rich and tense, just giving a hint of its potential, clearly powerful but totally seductive too. A sublime wine in the making. 97 Georgina Hindle, Decanter.

A very structured and racy Pichon-Baron with blackcurrant, stone and black cherry aromas and flavours. Medium to full body with racy and fine tannins that are precise and focused. Elegance with structure. 96-97 James Suckling.

The 2022 Pichon Baron swans out with gregarious notions of blackcurrant jelly, baked black plums, and Morello cherries, giving way to hints of lavender, cedar chest, and cumin seed plus a touch of cinnamon. The medium-bodied palate is tightly wound with bright, bold, black and red berry layers, complemented by firm, grainy tannins and impressive tension, finishing long and savoury/spicy. It will need time, but promises to be amazing! 95-97 Lisa Perrotti-Brown.

An unusually gourmand, sensual wine from this estate, the 2022 Pichon-Longueville Baron bursts with aromas of crème de cassis, sweet dark berries, licorice, lilac and pencil shavings. On the palate, it's medium to full-bodied, layered and velvety, with excellent concentration and a rather rich, supple profile. 95-97 William Kelley, Wine Advocate.

Intense, sculpted Pauillac tannins here, gripping from the first moments with their structure and intent. Blocks of intense chocolate, slate, liquorice and black chocolate, this feels vertical and concentrated, could let more light in at this stage but that should come over ageing. 94 Jane Anson.

Drinking Window: 2030 - 2070