Ch.Pichon Baron 2013 ex-ch 750ml

Wine Advocate #214, Aug 2014
Potentially the best of all the Pauillacs in 2013 (along with Mouton Rothschild), Pichon Baron is dense purple to the rim, which is not typical in this vintage, and exhibits stunning creme de cassis notes along with licorice, forest floor and white flowers. It is medium-bodied, but very complete, with serious texture, impressive purity, depth and ripe tannins on the finish. This is another 2013 that tastes atypically full and impressive. The final blend from a tiny crop at Pichon Longueville Baron was 83% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot. Drink it over the next 12-15 years.

Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, a leading Pauillac 2éme Cru Classé estate, is one of Bordeaux's most illustrious "super seconds". In 1987 it was bought by the AXA Millésimes Group, who also own Cantenac-Brown, Petit-Village, Suduiraut.
AXA built a state of the art cuverie and chai at Pichon-Longueville Baron, while, in 2000, Christian Seely took over from Jean-Michel Cazesas as general manager. Pichon-Longueville-Baron's 73-hectare vineyard (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc, runs adjacent to that of Château Latour and lies on deep gravel beds.
The Cabernet-dominated Pichon-Longueville Baron is a more muscular, tannic and full-bodied wine than that of its neighbour across the road, Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. The grand vin is Chateau Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville. The second wine is Les Tourelles de Longueville, introduced with the 1986 vintage. The best examples of Pichon-Longueville Baron have layer upon layer of unctuous, vanilla-scented, blackcurrant and cassis fruit, intermingled with cigar box and lead pencil shavings aromas. They require cellaring for at least 10 years.

Meats, Beef and Venison