Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2003

Made from a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot, this spectacular 2003 hits all the sweet spots on the palate. A glorious bouquet of cedarwood, jammy black currants, cherries, licorice and truffle is followed by a dense, opulently textured, full-bodied wine with terrific purity and freshness as well as deep, velvety textured tannins. Enjoy this beauty over the next 10-12 years.

This has very ripe fruit, but not overripe. Hints of prunes but mostly currants and spices on the nose, mainly cinnamon. Full-bodied with firm tannins yet polished and velvety. It still has an incredible freshness. I love it. Try it after 2015, but enjoy this now if you cannot wait.

The 2003 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande was showing well until around five years ago, but I wonder, based on this ex-cellar bottle, tasted blind at the château, if it is on a slippery slope? Glossy on the nose, obviously very ripe with a little more VA than previous examples, I just find it monotonous compared to the wondrous 1983 served alongside. The palate is sweet on the entry, with plenty of almost saccharine black cherries and cassis fruit, though here I remark on a nagging vegetal note right on the finish. Tasted blind at the château.

At its peak, or just a hair past, this is fully ready to go—no decanting needed or wanted. Just pop and pour so you can enjoy its blackberry, mint, forest leaf, cedar, spice, and burning campfire aromas. The round palate is soft and sweet, with blackberries, dried herbs, and spice. It’s shorter than it used to be, but still nice in your glass. Drink from 2026-2033.

One of my favorite estates, Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande have turned out a beautiful 2003 that shows none of the negative characteristics of this dry, incredibly hot vintage. Cassis, cedar wood, lead pencil and loads of spice give way to a full-bodied, surprisingly elegant, ethereally textured beauty that has notable purity and balance. It’s drinking great today and will keep for at least another 10-15 years.

Medium garnet, still young, yet already showing a first hint of maturity at the rim. Fully sweet bouquet, caramel, young Port and stewed plum, cassis almost to excess. On the palate, full-bodied, again with plenty of creamy tannins, with a flavor profile outside Bordeaux – yet a world-class wine.

04: Barrel sample: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot. 39 hl/ha, only 45% of the harvest selected for the Grand Vin! Very dense color; lots of violet highlights in the garnet. Dreamy, concentrated bouquet; if one looked for parallels between some 2003s and certain ’82s, this is certainly the case here with this Pichon-Lalande; plenty of prunes, blackcurrant and vanilla pods. On the palate, this generous Pauillac sensuality continues, creamy, opulent tannins with a very forceful finish. Will already give pleasure young and certainly over the next fifteen years. Top vinification – super class! (19/20). 05: Sensational, overripe berry bouquet, lots of dried fruit, plums, bananas, light woods and freshly baked bread crust, rich and exuberant on the nose. Creamy, thick palate, with tremendous volume and glycerol, the tannins are round and caressing, warm fruit aromatics, a rolling flow across the tongue, chocolate Bounty in the finish, equipped with a peppery bite in the extract. Continues to evolve toward Pichon-Lalande 1982! 05 on New Year’s Eve, one hour before midnight. Juicy, velvety and sweet, the barrique sweetness is dominant and rules the wine with a bakery-like caramel. 07: Dense, deep purple-ruby. Open, filigreed bouquet, showing blue but also red berries, notes of blackberry, a delicate floral shimmer within, surprisingly accessible. Creamy palate, a lacteous sheen, blackberry yogurt, light caramel and vanilla from the buttery barriques. A Burgundian wine one could call a Chambertin from Pauillac. Perhaps given the vintage you’d expect a bit more drive. Can it keep its rating? (19/20). 11: Elderberry, caramel, round and powerful. Brilliant or just plain awesome? (19/20). 12: Medium garnet, still young but already showing a first hint of maturity at the rim. Fully sweet bouquet, caramel, young Port and stewed plums, cassis almost to excess. On the palate, full-bodied, again with lots of creamy tannins, by basic flavor profile – outside Bordeaux – but a world-class wine. (19/20). 13: Very dark color, still a purplish shimmer in the middle. Full, explosive bouquet, blackberries, blackberry jelly, cassis and butter, rich and almost overflowing. On the palate, the opulence continues in extremis, almost bursting the mouth, an intoxicating Cabernet sweetness radiates from this thing, with a touch of Port on the finish, clearly showing the hot vintage. (19/20). 14: Starts thick on opening and then settles down a bit. I wouldn’t uncork it at the moment. (19/20). 16: Medium-dark garnet, lightening rim. Powerful bouquet, praline tones, hints of dried fruit, complex and very rich on the attack. Quite communicative on the expansive nose. On the palate velvety, creamy; if it were sweet you could call it a Pauillac liqueur, the finish is focused and almost fat with ripe blackberry accents. This atypical wine (like other 2003 Médocs…) is absolutely mouth-filling. So an over-erotic Rubens-Lalande. Already delivering unbridled pleasure. (19/20). 16: Deep purple, dense at the core. The day before (at the Monday tasting) it seemed hot and expansive. Today it appeared reserved and, besides the raisined berry heat, also showed fine slightly green Cabernet notes. It showed depth, but was fairly introverted with little desire to communicate. On the palate velvety, dense and very concentrated. A wine that, by its make-up, belongs to the best 2003s and carries the tendency to become quite a long-lived classic. (19/20). 21: Currently in a stage of uninhibitedness. Wickedly good! (19/20). 21: Dark garnet with a blood-red shimmer at the core. Powerful bouquet with a Port-like glint, dried figs, candied orange peel and caramel. A nasal orgy one wouldn’t necessarily look for blind in the Bordelais. On the palate fat and rich, almost palate-bursting. Brilliant to drink now and still showing further potential. (19/20).

Blended from 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 0% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Petit Verdot, the 2003 Pichon Lalande has a deep garnet-brick color. It gallops out of the glass with powerful notes of crème de cassis, baked black plums, and incense, followed by suggestions of Indian spices, chargrill, and cracked black pepper. The medium-bodied palate delivers a sturdy, rugged structure with muscular fruit and a firm finish.

Cedar aroma with the usual hint of red bell pepper (ripe pepper with nothing green), fine-grained, a little less monumental than its neighbors.

Beautiful dark, mature color on the rim. Fairly intense nose marked by a hint of greenness. Slender-bodied palate, rather velvety, but this not-quite-ripe flavor keeps it from soaring and slows the wine’s overall expression on the finish. Drink without delay.

Normally one of the most elegant of Pauillacs, the 2003 is big and dense. These dark tannins mask delicious black fruit, flavors of spice and layers of acidity. This is going to develop relatively fast, despite the density of the wine, just because it is so rich. Imported by Diageo Chateau & Estates.