There was a green harvest and the largest quantity of generic wine made.Ģ001 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac The 2004 vintage experienced very good, regular weather that provided a big challenge to reduce quantity. Some green berries made it into the wine. Good weather in September pushed the ripeness into balance but still left a low-yield. The 2002 vintage saw a very cold spring where they lost many berries. Jean-Rene Matignon: The 2001 vintage saw a green harvest and produced a wine that is elegant and balanced with very good potential. Though tighter in the mouth this retained balance with minerals, blue-black fruit, and fine cola-like tannins. This wine is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon and 29% Merlot that was aged in 80% new oak barrels and 20% one-year old oak barrels. ***.Ģ008 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac In the mouth the tart red fruit had a greenhouse hint before a racy, line of flavor brought more greenhouse flavors. There was a meaty, bloody nose marked by greenhouse aromas. This wine is a blend of 74% Cabernet Sauvignon and 26% Merlot that was aged in 80% new oak barrels and 20% one-year old oak barrels. ![]() ***(*).Ģ007 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac The drying structure came out with air but everything was balanced by the lively acidity. ![]() The density continued in the mouth with savory fruit, lifted minerality, and cedar hints in the finish. The nose was dense and meaty with minerally aromas of dark blue and black fruit. This wine is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc that was aged in 80% new oak barrels and 20% one-year old oak barrels. This wine was assembled in the new cellar, built in 2006, that has more space allowing the lots to be kept separate for a precise selection.Ģ006 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac With low yields and a strict selection the production level was low. The 2008 vintage demonstrates a lot of potential. The 2007 vintage experienced a tropical summer with humidity and low ripeness. Jean-Rene Matignon: In the 2006 vintage, the Cabernet Sauvignon was very ripe and the wine shows a lot of minerality. Please find my notes below as well as Jean-Rene Matignon’s comments which I have paraphrased. It was a pleasure to not only enjoy the wine and food but Ben Giliberti’s knowledge about Bordeaux and Keith Levenberg’s shrewd observations. My notes are a bit short this year for, I will admit, for my table spent a good amount of time conversing. We tasted all of these wines in flights of two and three. I suspect this wine will develop even further! The 1989 has entered its mature peak with the 1990 distinctly youthful with its pure fruit, good acidity, and integrated structure. Of the mature wines I preferred the pair of 19 over the 2000 which came across as more advanced. Whereas the 2005 was quite strong the 2010 had more of everything, including an already significant amount of complexity. ![]() Of the younger wines the 2005, 2009, and 2010 showed significant potential for future the development. As a whole I thought the wines showed incredibly well with attractive and engaging vintage variation. This meant there were ample pours of all wines included significant pours of the 19 vintages. The wines were decanted that morning and Panos fortunately revealed there was only one corked bottle. With glass in hand of lovely full-bodied lemon flavors I chatted with many familiar wine lovers and met several others for the first time. We started the evening in the bar side of Ripple drinking glasses of 2000 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut. ![]() Jean-Rene Matignon provided a pamphlet on the history of the estate as well as a tasting booklet describing each of the wines served at our dinner. As the vintages reached back to 1989, he was able to share his comprehensive knowledge. Jean-Rene Matignon has been technical director at the estate since it was purchased by AXA Insurance in 1987. To complement the 13-vintage vertical of wines we were joined by Jean-Rene Matignon. For this year the focus was on the wines of Chateau Pichon-Longueville Baron. Earlier this week I had the privilege to attend the annual Bordeaux dinner hosted by Panos Kakaviatos ( Wine Chronicles) at the restaurant Ripple.
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