Super Barons
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 4:17 pm
On Saturday we attended a Decanter magazine master class on Pichon-Longueville Baron hosted by Christian Seely
Pichon-Longueville Baron
2000
Ruby maroon red fruited mineral and graphite. Thick dense and brooding on the palate, still backward. Fine tannins with long minerally finish. Be patient: Give it another 5-7 years. Brilliant wine with outstanding potential. (13.2%ABV).
2001
This lacks the power and concentration of the 2000 but is a beautiful medium weight wine. Fine tannins, silky with mineral gun smoke notes. This is drinking well now (13.1%)
2002
More overt cedar and black currant notes this is a gorgeous elegant and smooth wine. A very fine 2002 drinking beautifully. (13.1%).
2003
This wine lacked the poise of the previous three and came across as being a bit hot and unbalanced but the alcohol is not elevated (13.4%). A little overripe, nowhere near as good as Cos 2003 tried recently.
2004
Seely talked this wine up but it came across as a bit inert and lacking expression despite being svelte and silky. Probably needs some time to come out of its shell. (13.6%).
2005
Dark and brooding, charcoal and mineral notes, thick, dense and juicy, full, powerful, perfect expression of ripe Cabernet. Long and refined. Brilliant wine. (13.6%)
2006
It rained during the harvest, and this suffered next to the 2005. A nIce wine but still quite closed and innocuous and not showing as well as it did out of barrel. (13.1%).
2008
Cool year with an Indian summer contriving to craft a classic wine. Oak and tannin not fully integrated but very fine, outstanding potential. (13.3%).
2009
Very dense, fleshy, sweet ripe fruit. A thrilling and exuberant wine with everything. Drop dead gorgeous.
2010
More authoratitive than the nine, seriously dense, powerful, fleshy. Clearly a remarkable wine.
The quality of these wines is really quite thrilling after a mixed decade in the 1990s, this establishes Baron among the ranks of the best super seconds. I asked Seeley how he compares wines like the 09 and 10 with the 89 and 90 and he noted that the yields were much higher then, up to 60 hectolitres per hectare compared to 35 -40 now. The 2000 was 50 and that came down when Seeley took over control of the estate in 2001.
I think it is difficult to choose between the extraordinary 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2010. They are all obviously great wines and commensurately expensive. On the other end I liked he 2003 least, but I would be more than happy to have it at my table, followed by the somewhat dilute but still svelte 2006 and somewhat expressionless 2004. None of these would be bad wines to have in your cellar, but the really exciting wines here are 2001, 2002 and 2008. On the day the 2002 was drinking brilliantly and is probably the wine to buy.
Pichon-Longueville Baron
2000
Ruby maroon red fruited mineral and graphite. Thick dense and brooding on the palate, still backward. Fine tannins with long minerally finish. Be patient: Give it another 5-7 years. Brilliant wine with outstanding potential. (13.2%ABV).
2001
This lacks the power and concentration of the 2000 but is a beautiful medium weight wine. Fine tannins, silky with mineral gun smoke notes. This is drinking well now (13.1%)
2002
More overt cedar and black currant notes this is a gorgeous elegant and smooth wine. A very fine 2002 drinking beautifully. (13.1%).
2003
This wine lacked the poise of the previous three and came across as being a bit hot and unbalanced but the alcohol is not elevated (13.4%). A little overripe, nowhere near as good as Cos 2003 tried recently.
2004
Seely talked this wine up but it came across as a bit inert and lacking expression despite being svelte and silky. Probably needs some time to come out of its shell. (13.6%).
2005
Dark and brooding, charcoal and mineral notes, thick, dense and juicy, full, powerful, perfect expression of ripe Cabernet. Long and refined. Brilliant wine. (13.6%)
2006
It rained during the harvest, and this suffered next to the 2005. A nIce wine but still quite closed and innocuous and not showing as well as it did out of barrel. (13.1%).
2008
Cool year with an Indian summer contriving to craft a classic wine. Oak and tannin not fully integrated but very fine, outstanding potential. (13.3%).
2009
Very dense, fleshy, sweet ripe fruit. A thrilling and exuberant wine with everything. Drop dead gorgeous.
2010
More authoratitive than the nine, seriously dense, powerful, fleshy. Clearly a remarkable wine.
The quality of these wines is really quite thrilling after a mixed decade in the 1990s, this establishes Baron among the ranks of the best super seconds. I asked Seeley how he compares wines like the 09 and 10 with the 89 and 90 and he noted that the yields were much higher then, up to 60 hectolitres per hectare compared to 35 -40 now. The 2000 was 50 and that came down when Seeley took over control of the estate in 2001.
I think it is difficult to choose between the extraordinary 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2010. They are all obviously great wines and commensurately expensive. On the other end I liked he 2003 least, but I would be more than happy to have it at my table, followed by the somewhat dilute but still svelte 2006 and somewhat expressionless 2004. None of these would be bad wines to have in your cellar, but the really exciting wines here are 2001, 2002 and 2008. On the day the 2002 was drinking brilliantly and is probably the wine to buy.