Professional reviews
Robert Parker (98)
One of the wines of the vintage, the 2019 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande soars from the glass with complex aromas of wild berries, tobacco leaf, loamy soil, burning embers and hints of violets and rose petals. Full-bodied, deep and complete, it’s velvety and seamless, with a broad attack and a multidimensional core of lively, succulent fruit. Concluding with a long, expansive finish, it’s a remarkable young Pauillac that will offer many years of thrilling drinking. Congratulations to Nicolas Glumineau and his team, who are ushering in a new golden age at an address where standards were always very high.
Jancis Robinson (17)
71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc.
More leafy than most of the Pauillacs in this small selection, very much what I expect from Comtesse. Dry, firm, elegant texture, really elegant in its dry finesse. Very cassis-focused, dry and refined. (JH)
Vinous (98)
The 2019 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande demands more coaxing from the glass, but it rewards patience with compelling graphite-infused black fruit, unapologetically classic in style, the terroir flooding through. The palate is medium-bodied with wonderful sapidity, gorgeous balance and a pure yet powerful finish that makes you wish you could build a time machine and taste it in 20 years. Sublime. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Jeb Dunnuck (99)
Pure class, the 2019 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande is another brilliant wine from director Nicolas Glumineau that checks in at the top of the vintage. A blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc that was harvested from mid-September through October 8th. Brought up in roughly 60% new French oak, it hit 14.1% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.7. More elegant and poised from bottle than barrel, it offers a brilliant perfume of crème de cassis, lead pencil shavings, tobacco leaf, damp earth, and graphite. Deep, full-bodied, and pure perfection on the palate, it has this incredible marriage of Latour-like stature and regalness buffered by wonderful, sexy, seamless fruit, which no doubt comes from the higher Merlot content and makes Comtesse de Lalande so singular and unique. It builds slowly with time in the glass and has remarkable purity of fruit, ultra-fine tannins, perfect balance, and a finish that just begs you to pour another glass. It has a seductive, seamless profile that offers pleasure even today (although it needs lots of air to show at its best) yet needs 7-8 years of bottle age to hit the early stages of its prime drink window and will evolve for another 40-50 years if stored properly.
