2022 Chateau Pichon-Comtesse de Lalande - 2eme Cru Classe Pauillac

Decanter.com – 98 pts – GH: *One of my favourite wines from 2022, utterly seductive from the first sip, this is a stunning effort that shows the power of Pauillac in 2022 delivered with elegance and class. Heavily scented on the nose, full of dark fruits, savoury notes of salty chocolate and floral scents. Smooth and so appealing in the mouth, the texture stands out, deep and rich but soft and chalky, tannins have a subtle powderiness that spreads the mouth, cooling and refreshing giving the minerality while the cool black and blue fruits linger in layers expanding vertically. This is so refined and polished - it's serious no doubt, not super fun, but it doesn’t need to be, it’s rich and sumptuous with sweet blue fruits balanced by high acidity that keeps the focus and energy. Bright, bold, well worked, clean, crystalline and pure. Somehow delicate and punchy at the same time. A mind-blowing wine that you just have to marvel at with intensity, brightness and vibrancy, building as it goes. A long, clean finish leaves you wanting more, salivating for that next sip. 3.8pH. A potential 100-point wine. 3.8pH. 50% grand vin. Tasted twice.* - 04/2023

Falstaff Magazin – 100 pts – PM: *Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, fast tintig, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Cassis und Gewürznelken, dunkle Waldbeeren, reife Kirschen, feines Nugat, sehr einladendes Bukett. Stoffig, süß und elegant, schokoladige Textur, frisch und komplex, süßer Nachhall, enormer Druck, tolle Länge, Harmonie, salziges Finale, nicht enden wollend, der Nachfolger für den legendären 1982er ist geboren, der delikateste Pauillac seit Langem.* - 01/2023

Vinum Magazin – 19/20 pts: *Passt bestens in die Serie hervorragender Jahrgänge, auf die Pichon Comtesse zurückblicken kann: beginnt ungemein fruchtig, entwickelt Fülle und Saft über exzellentem, tragendem Tanninfundamant und grosse aromatische Länge; meisterliche Balance.* - 04/2023

WeinWisser – 19,5+/20pts – GL, TW: *78 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 17 % Merlot, 5 % Cabernet Franc, 13.65 Vol.-%, pH 3.8, 30 hl/ha. Unglaublich vielschichtiges Bouquet, frisch gepflückte Alpenheidelbeere, heller Tabak, Lakritze, satter Veilchenstrauß und Holundergelee. Das ist schon jetzt so elegant und verführerisch. Am kaskadenartigen Gaumen mit seidiger Textur, reifer Extraktfülle und tänzerischer Rasse – alles in Balance, ein wahrer Modellathlet mit präzisen und eleganten Definitionen. Im konzentrierten Finale blaubeerige Konturen, tiefschürfende Terroirwürze und erhabene Adstringenz – ganz nah an der Perfektion und hinter Mouton Rothschild dieses Jahr der zweitbeste Pauillac.* – 04/2023

JancisRobinson.com – 17,5+/20pts – JL: *78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample. Gently fragrant, the Cabernet element to the fore. Juicy extract but firmness behind. Suave texture of tannin. A certain finesse but power as well. Freshness and length on the finish. A refined statement.* - 04/2023

Vinous.com – (96-99) pts – AG: *The 2022 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is magnificent. In recent years, Estate Director Nicolas Glumineau has pushed Pichon Comtesse to the limit. Maybe even a bit too far. But the 2022 is in the end a super-classic wine that emphasizes mid-weight structure, aromatic presence and persistence more than size. Sweet floral, savory and mineral accents run through a core of ripe, racy red-toned fruit. All the elements are so well balanced. Tasted four times.* - 04/2023

Vinous.com – (96-98) pts – NM: *The 2022 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande was picked 6 to 27 September at 30hL/ha, the drought chipping away so that one-third was eventually lost. This has 13.65% alcohol and pH of 3.80. There is 17.5% pressed wine, the highest ever. This has a subtle bouquet, not understated but it unfurls in the glass (unlike others that explode.) Blackberry and cedar, light touches of mint, a hint of dark chocolate. The palate is medium-bodied with a velvety texture with lovely balanced, gentle but insistent grip, slightly granular as it fans out with black fruit, cedar and light graphite notes. This is a very suave Pichon-Lalande that will age with style.* - 04/2023

Thewinecellarinsider.com – (98-100) pts – JL: *With an inky, dark, garnet hue, the wine asks for a bit of coaxing before its leather, cedar, spice, flowers, truffle, mint, currants and dark cherries show in the perfume. The wine is pure silk on the palate. There are no edges or corners. Everything feels in place. It is completely seamless. The wine is pure, fresh, and expansive. The mid-palate picks up its currants and plums, while the finish holds them in place, and expands in all 4 directions, with perfect balance in its 60-second plus finish. This is the best vintage of Pichon Comtesse ever produced! If you have the extra money, this is the wine to buy as it will provide dividends for decades as it ages and evolves. The wine blends 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc. 13.65% ABV, 3.80 pH. The harvest took place September 6 - September 27. Yields were 30 hectoliters per hectare. Only 50% of the harvest goes into the Grand Vin. Drink from 2027-2065.* - 05/2023