2005 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, Bordeaux

64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot.

Dark crimson with some blue notes. Iodine nose. Silky tannins. It is very aromatic and sweet. Round and polished tannins. Blackcurrant pastilles! Healthy fruit. A savoury note, too. Really tannic on the finish, but only on the finish. You could drink this now if you decanted it well.

Drink 2015 - 2035

The 2005 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a wine from the château's less brilliant period. In this tasting, it is dark, heavy and clumsy. All that said, the 2005 has aged relatively well, there is just not much complexity to speak of. Muted, unfocused aromatics and dull fruit are penalizing. It is truly remarkable to see how much the Pichon Comtesse has progressed since this wine was made.

Drink 2021 - 2035

The 2005 Pichon Lalande, with its aromatics of cassis, forest floor, and earth, is followed by a medium-bodied wine that doesn’t have quite the length and richness the aromatics suggest. Nevertheless, it is medium-bodied, elegant, and pure and a classic example for this château. Drink it now as well as over the next 15 or so years. It is showing better than my earlier notes suggest.

Drink 2015 - 2030

Made in a more mid-weight, elegant style that certainly brings charm, the 2005 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande has a pretty perfume of red currants, plums, spring flowers, and spicy, truffly, earthy nuances. With medium-bodied richness, an elegant, seamless mouthfeel, and polished tannins, it’s not a blockbuster but is one of those wines that grows on you over the course of an evening. While today’s releases bring another level of everything, it’s still an outstanding wine that should keep for another decade.

Drink 2024 - 2034

The Château Pichon-Lalande 2005 that was so divisive at birth but as I expected right from the beginning, this is maturing into a lovely Pauillac. It offers compelling tobacco and graphite scents on the nose, belying the Merlot content of this blend, reserved at first but opening gloriously in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannin and well-judged acidity. There is an effortlessness quality about this Pichon-Lalande. ‘tis not the most powerful or decadent Pauillac but its is very sophisticated and refined.

Drink 2018 - 2045

64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.

This needs time in the glass but unfurls to reveal cedar, cinnamon, tobacco, cassis and rose notes. It's heady and confident stuff I've tasted several times over the past few months and have been hugely impressed by, especially with food.

Drink 2018 - 2040