Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
For many wine lovers, at its best, Chateau Pichon Lalande is one of the best examples of Bordeaux wine from Pauillac. Sensuous textures, deep concentrated layers of ripe fruit and a perfume filled with earth, tobacco and cassis are what you’ll find in Pichon Lalande.
The first mention of what we now call Chateau Pichon Lalande discusses the creation of the vineyard by Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan. Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan is the same man responsible for forming many of what are now widely considered the top Bordeaux estates of today. One owner, Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville succeeded his mother taking over Pichon Lalande when he was only 19. He was 90 years old when he died in 1850.
Before his death he split up the estate between his five children, becoming independent and producing two different wines very distinct in style.
After the estate was divided into the two current Pichon estates, 1925 saw Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande bought by Edouard Miailhe and Louis Miailhe. The daughter of Edouard Miailhe, May Eliane de Lencquesaing (born in 1926) later became the owner and manager of the property in 1978. She made numerous investments and improvements at Pichon Lalande, perhaps her greatest achievement being expanding the size of Chateau Pichon Lalande from 40 hectares to its current 89 hectares of vines! (Quite an accomplishment to grow a major property in the Left Bank by more than 50%.)
May-Eliane de Lencquesaing sold Pichon Lalande to the owners of Roederer Champagne in January 2007. This family-run company is managed by Frederic Rouzaud and owns several other wine estates in Bordeaux including Chateau Bernadotte, Chateau de Pez , Haut Beausejour and Chateau Reaut la Graviere. Once the purchase for Chateau Pichon Lalande was concluded, in 2008, a complete renovation of the estate took place. The wine making facilities were rebuilt and modernized. The new construction of course included work in the cellars, vat rooms and chais. The reception area, glass museum and chateau was remodeled. A targeted, replanting program for select, vineyard parcels was started. The replanting focused on making sure the best root stocks with the most potential were planted in the correct, specific soil types for each grape varietal.
On average, the vines are 45 years of age. However, they have old vines, which are now close to 90 years of age having been planted in the early 1930s. You can divide the vineyards of Pichon Lalande into 6 large blacks that are almost contiguous. You can further subdivide those blocks into a range parcels that are close to 60 in number.
The vineyard of Chateau Pichon Lalande also includes 11 hectares of vines in the St. Julien appellation that the estate is allowed to vinify as Pauillac. The grapes can be used for the Grand Vin, the second wine , or bottled as a Saint Julien. However, the majority of the time, those vines are used in both the Grand Vin and in the second wine.
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