Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2022

98-99/100

I love the aromatics here with botanicals as well as currants, blackberries and oranges. Full-bodied with incredible tannins that build on the palate with finesse and focus. Featherlight but always there. Stealth in structure. Very vertical. Savory. Superb. 78% cabernet sauvignon, 17% merlot and 5% cabernet franc.

97-88/100

La troisième étoile accordée au château cette année est amplement méritée, le 2022 fera date. Voilà un vin ultra-racé, dynamisé par des cabernets de grande noblesse, à la fraîcheur démoniaque. Un vin tout à fait dans l’esprit du cru, floral et raffiné, aux tanins de soie.

97-99/100

The 2022 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is one wine where a comparison with this estate's magical 1982 doesn't appear to be far-fetched. Wafting from the glass with deep aromas of cassis, plums, violets, rose petals, tobacco leaf and pencil shavings, it's full-bodied, supple and fleshy, with a layered, seamless core of fruit that largely conceals its chassis of powdery structuring tannin. Concluding with a long, expansive and beautifully perfumed finish, it's a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc that has the potential to equal or even surpass the 2019 and 2016 vintages at this address. It checks in at a very classical 13.6% alcohol and a rather high pH of 3.80.

98/100

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.

17.5/20

97-100/100

96-99/100

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 ans 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. 2032-2062.

98-100/100

L ’intensité du bouquet est une chose, la complexité un autre et la pertinence encore une autre. Et chacun de ses critères est plussoyé par le bouquet. Que de grandeur et de précision. Le vin est d’une excellente densité et parfaitement soutenu par des tannins compacts, puissants qui se révèlent le long du palais pour atteindre leur amplitude en fin de bouche. L’acidité, structurante, ne manque pas de conférer de la tension et de la persistance. C’est certainement un des très grands Pichon Comtesse…. Avec le 2020 et le 2010 ! Puis le 1982… etc. etc. 2029-2057.