Château Pichon Lalande 'Pichon Comtesse Reserve', 2022
Château Pichon Lalande 'Pichon Comtesse Reserve', 2022
- 75cl
- 13.8%
- Red Still
- Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc
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Optimal drinking window: 2027 - 2042
This is the second wine of Château Pichon-Longueville de Comtesse de Lalande, one of Pauillac's most elegant estates. The 'Comtesse Reserve' captures the house style of refinement and grace that has made Pichon Lalande legendary among Left Bank châteaux. Where many Pauillac wines rely on power, this estate has always chosen finesse.
The 2022 vintage shows the château's skill with a challenging year, delivering classic cassis fruit wrapped in cedar and graphite, with tannins that speak softly but carry authority.
The 89-hectare vineyard sits on classic Pauillac gravel beds over clay subsoil, with parcels close to the Gironde estuary benefiting from the river's moderating influence. The deep gravel provides excellent drainage while the clay beneath retains moisture during dry periods, crucial for maintaining elegance in warm vintages. The proximity to Château Latour on one side and Saint-Julien on the other creates a unique microclimate that tends to produce wines with more finesse than the typical Pauillac power. This terroir naturally favours the higher proportion of Merlot that defines the estate's style.
Pauillac is the most concentrated commune in the Médoc, home to three of Bordeaux's five first growths and a dozen other classified estates. The appellation demands a minimum 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot combined, with most estates heavily favouring Cabernet Sauvignon for its structure and ageability. Pauillac wines are typically powerful and tannic in youth, requiring years to show their best, though Pichon Lalande has always been the graceful exception to this rule. The commune's gravelly soils and proximity to the Gironde create ideal conditions for late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2022 growing season in Bordeaux threw everything at the vines: a warm, dry spring that brought flowering forward, followed by scorching summer heat that had many producers genuinely worried about their fruit. By August, some vineyards were showing real stress, with leaf burn and shrivelling grapes becoming common sights across the Left Bank. The saving grace came in September when temperatures dropped and gentle rains arrived just when the vines needed them most, allowing the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon to finish properly whilst preserving freshness.
What emerged from this rollercoaster was a vintage of surprising quality, though yields were predictably low. The reds show concentrated fruit with ripe tannins that avoid the harsh edge that excessive heat can bring - that September reprieve really mattered. Merlot fared particularly well, ripening before the worst of the summer stress, whilst Cabernet Sauvignon varies more depending on terroir and how well individual estates managed the heat. We're finding the wines drink beautifully now with immediate charm, though the better examples will certainly reward patience over the next decade.
What the critics say:
"The al dente fruit is so attractive with blackcurrants, dark plums and orange peel. The palate is medium- to full-bodied with tannins that start slowly, building at the end to a crescendo of intensity and power. It’s muscular and chewy but not overdone. A great second wine of Pichon Lalande. Needs time to soften and come together. Best after 2029."
"Fully ripe fruits, smoky and creamy character with charred raspberry and cassis, violet-edged, pencil lead, bitter chocolate, cocoa dust. An impressive wine, tannins close in a little tightly on the finish, with dried rosemary and black pepper spicy translating the heat of the vintage. 31hl/h yield, 3.65ph."
"Gorgeous aromatics, vibrant but deep too. Tannins make the impact straight away, there’s good density here, clear concentration this is carrying some heft in the really quite potent dark fruit flavours, spiced edges and sense of heat that comes through the underneath. Broad but focussed, definitely more streamlined than wide and plush, with almost chewy tannins but that have a pure cool blue fruit, liquorice and slate grip to them giving them edges and creating the linear focus. Feels well constructed, still on the tense nervous side but it has an appealing juicy grip too. 3.8pH. 50% grand vin, 50% second wine. 3.8pH. 2% Cabernet Franc completes the blend."
OUR GROWERS
Château Pichon-Longueville de Comtesse de Lalande
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