21 Vintages of Pichon Lalande (1947-2005)

[JoelD]

Last week I had the pleasure of attending an amazing vertical of Pichon Lalande up in NYC. Thanks to Musigny151 for giving me his seat as he couldn't make it and for supplying most of the wines for the event.

I did my best to take and transcribe tasting notes (not my strong suit). The short version is that as a whole, these wines were amazingly consistent, and almost all were very good to great with only a few underperformers (1996, 1982). Many very pleasant surprises (1995, 1990, and all 8 of the wines from the 60's and 70's) Only a few slightly off bottles and only two that I would say were actually bad (1953, 1949). All were out of 750 except for the 2005 splits and 1959 Magnum. As far as I know, all wines were PNP, with somewhere between 30-90 minutes slow ox and pre poured for each flight.

First Flight- Paired with Thick Cut Slab Bacon

2005(375ml)- Structured and a bit tight as expected but entering it's early drinking window. Great dark fruit, touch of sweetness. Fairly indicative of the vintage. The wonderful fruit really blossomed with time in the glass and brought a great balance. 93+pts

2000- The most green wine of the evening, but not in a bad way. Touch of jalapenos. Long finish that surprisingly got shorter when paired with food. Time in glass balanced the greenness and the acidity. Lovely. 94pts

1996- One of my underachievers of the evening for a wine that I found no actual problem with the bottle. A touch green and lean on the palate but also balanced with around an hour of air in glass. Structure and acidity grew with time. 93pts

1995- Wine of flight for me, and probably my 3rd WOTN. Totally classic Bordeaux, with none of the greenness. Extremely long finish. Paired quite well with food. Beautiful floral notes on both the nose and the palate. 96pts

1990- Clearly a polarizing wine in general but I thought this bottle was just lovely. It certainly had some of the slightly hedonistic characteristics of the vintage. Medium finish with some dark fruit left. Balanced out much better than expected. 94pts

2nd Flight- Paired with Scallops for me(sub for pasta with bolognese)

1989-WOTN for me. Bigger version of the 1995 with more fruit. Really firing on all cylinders. Everything I want in a Bordeaux. Wonderful on first taste but held up perfectly in glass. Maybe the best bottle I've had of this by a smidge, all three times have been great. Lovely dark fruit and great acidity. Very long finish. 97pts

1986- First slightly off bottle to me. I wondered if this was mildly corked and others did as well. But no real TCA on the nose that I'm very sensitive to. However the palate was muted. I learned a new term, "Bordeaux taint." Mimics TCA but not on the nose. Still a drinkable wine, albeit very slightly flawed. 91pts

1985- Another great bottle of this, and the only wine older than 1990 that I got some greenness from. Great acidity and fruit to balance that though. Similar to the last bottle that beat out the 1989 in a prior tasting. They're flipped in this one though and this was probably my 2nd or 3rd WOTN. Just lovely. Actually similar in some ways to the 1985 Lynch Bages that I've loved lately. 96pts

1982- 2nd of the underperforming(vs expections) wines of this tasting. No true flaws that I could find. Just a tad boring. I left this one in the glass for most of the tasting to see if anything would come of it. It finally showed better structure and balance toward the end of the tasting but still a bit of a disappointment. 93pts

Third Flight- Paired with Lamb T-Bone and Watercress/mint leaf salad

1981- Wonderful, floral and acidic nose but very odd on the palate. Another "Bordeaux taint" wine? Others felt differently but this one was probably the weirdest wine on the table for me. 91pts

1979- Defintely better than the last bottle I had of this. Very clean and mineral, lean but long and balanced. 94pts

1978- Bigger and more structured like the 89 and 95, but showing it's age more obviously. Some fruit left but likely nearing the end of it's peak drinking window. 94pts

1975- Pretty, classic, bright. Intoxicating nose. Small amount of barnyard on the finish that didn't detract. 94pts

Fourth Flight-Paired with New York Strip

1970- Best of the 1970's to me. Big and meaty but floral on both the nose and palate. Lots of acidity that really seemed to balance all of those other qualities out. Top 5 of the night, probably. 95pts

1967-Late addition to the tasting. Glad we got to try it. Fairly light/lean to start and a touch astringent, however these both came around with some time in glass. Gained depth and some wonderful red fruit showed late. 93+pts

1966- Light on it's feet. Had some mutedness that went away with time. Definitely a wine that had to be coaxed a bit like the 1967. 93pts

1961- Voluptuous, glowing wine with great balance that really seemed to give a nice embrace. Very long finish, although this is one that I felt might be a little past it's prime. Fell off a bit with time in glass. Would have loved to taste this 10-15 years ago. Still great. 94+pts

Fifth Flight- Paired with a Cheese Course

1959(Mag)-Clearly the youngest of all the wines prior to 1985. Acidic, long, structured. Dark fruit left, but restrained. I wish we could have flipped and had the 1961 in magnum instead of this. I think that would have been WOTN if so. 94+pts

1953-First truly flawed wine. Pruny. Probably storage or just way past peak at this point. Still drinkable, sort of. 89pts

1949- The only truly corked wine on the table, quite badly. A few thought it wasn't corked but this one had it both on the nose and palate.

1947- Very pleasant surprise for me. Just a lovely, subtle wine. Not unlike the 1961 to me. I even preferred this slightly. Well balanced with just a bit of structure left. Some fruit as well which was awesome. 95pts

[AKR]

Wow that is pretty awesome. Sorry that 1996 didn't show better for you.

[Musigny 151]

Great notes.
We did the a similar tasting in 2018, and the 1996 and 1986 were both much more tannic and hefty than the other Pichons, and were for me in the bottom tier.

Our clear winners were 1961 and 1982. I don’t give many 100 points, but seem to remember giving them both perfect scores. Also loved 2000 and 1989 both of which had a pleasant note of herb.

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks Joel for this, I think you under-estimate your note taking ability.

So much of what you conveyed rings true, e.g., the consistent brilliance of the 1979, the variability of the 1986, the notion that the 1982 really peaked 10-20 years ago, the surprising mid-life recalcitrance of the 1996 - it seriously under-achieved at our 1996 dinner late last year - the extent to which the 1990 has been unfairly denigrated, and so on.

Was very interested in your impressions of the older wines most of which I have not tried before.

I wished I owned more of what is - unequivocally - BWE’s favourite wine - we established that a few months back, but have tasted so many over the years and they keep popping up.

They say that Pichon Lalande has never been making better wines than the ones they are making now under Nicolas Glumineau over the last decade. One of the crying shames of having to cancel BWE Bordeaux 2020 was missing out on lunch with him at the chateau.

[Nicklasss]

Thanks for the great report Joel.

I agree with others here, that your notes are giving a very good understanding of each wine.

I was surprize to learn how many BWEers consider that Chateau as their favorite, but your notes demonstrate well why.

For me, the only ? Is the 2000, that i found obscenely green, the only time i had it. I had also a bit of tough time with the 1986 in the past. All other vintages i had (75-78-79-82-83-85-88-89-96-01) have been excellent to great.

[stefan]

Your tasting showed why PL is so well regarded. How many participants were there?

[JoelD]

Thanks, Mark. For what it's worth, others at the tasting really loved the 1961, as one of their wines of the night. I thought it was great but just a little past peak. The 1982 was a consensus underperformer, especially considering that it had no obvious flaws.

I appreciate the kind sentiments, Ian. It sounds like we have had very similar experiences of late with Pichon Lalande. I would venture to guess that you would be happy to own any of the wines from the 60's and 70's. This completely confirmed why I picked this producer as my second favorite Bordeaux. There are others that hit higher highs in the best vintages for me. But for the consistency, ageability and cost, Pichon Lalande is hard to beat.

[JoelD]

Nic, the 2000 was quite green but I didn't find it obtrusive at all. Maybe it's come around like a lot of 2000's seem to be on that front. I found the 2000 Figeac terribly green at BWE 2020, but others have loved it recently. Last time I had the 1985, it was obtrusively green on opening, but somehow became my WOTN after 1-2 hours of air in bottle. Sounds we've had similar recent experiences. The only ones I haven't tried are the 83 and 88. The 01 is just lovely.

Stefan, I believe there were 18-19 people in total, although 16 tastes poured as a few couples shared the wines. So we got about 1.5oz pours. Good for three smaller sips per wine.

[barsacpinci]

Wow! A deep dive of a wonderful chateau! Excellent notes Joel! My attention span drops off around 12 bottles and I’m amazed you kept such detailed notes on them all. Sounds like the food was tasty too!

[barsacpinci]

Wow! A deep dive of a wonderful chateau! Excellent notes Joel! My attention span drops off around 12 bottles and I’m amazed you kept such detailed notes on them all. Sounds like the food was tasty too!

[Claudius2]

Joel,
Great tasting particularly in light of being able to try numerous wines back to 1947.
It most certainly shows that these wines can age well, despite PL often being a softer, silkier wine than most Pauillacs.

It has been a while since I've tried PL - the last was 2005 which was very good and the few I've tried were not as tannic as I expected.
I drank a case of the 1981 before I left Australia - so at around 20-25 years, and it was quite different to your notes, suggesting an odd bottle.
I tend to think 81 was under-appreciated across Bordeaux due to the following vintage. It was always quite rich but had an earthy character that reminded me of Ducru Beaucaillou in the 80's. It was a great wine but always a very nice one and I always looked forward to drinking it.

I have had the 86 a few times and it was to my memory a much better wine than the bottle you tasted.
Sorry it was a little tainted - whether TCA or otherwise, as it was a really nice wine from memory, with richness, firm tannins and good acidity. It also had a mocha character and some cedary oak, and I really liked it. Wish I had more as the last few bottles were sent to auction when I left Australia.

Of all Bordeaux vintages, the one I have drunk the most of is 1975.
They were going cheap at auction in the recession of 1990-94 in Australia. And I literally loaded up the truck on them.
I am not sure why, but there seemed to be a lot of 75s imported into Australia.
It is probably the only vintage I've tasted all 1ers Crus and most if not all seconds.
From that vintage, I did not rate PL as highly as several others, with HB, LMHB, Ducru and LLC being favs. Latour may have been with more age.
I bought a case at auction and I wonder if it had been poorly stored as it was more forward at 20-25 years of age than the other well renowned wines and it seemed a lot older. Oh well.

Anyway, Musigny must have a very good cellar if he can pull out so many vintages!
cheers
Mark

[robert goulet]

Sadly the only PLL I have is the '88..that needs to change...I'll be on the look for the '85, '89 and '95


Does anyone have any feedback on the '01 PLL?

[JoelD]

Sadly the only PLL I have is the '88..that needs to change...I'll be on the look for the '85, '89 and '95


Does anyone have any feedback on the '01 PLL?

I wouldn't overpay for the 95, as I've seen some bottle variation on it. This was a great bottle. Another recently didn't wow. I think the 85 and 89 are better buys for the current $ and I've had multiple great bottles of each recently.

I loved the 01 when I tried it a year ago and picked up 6 bottles at around 150. It was beautiful, vibrant, balanced, great fruit that should evolve into more complexity down the road. Very drinkable now. It beat out the much more masculine/tannic 01 Baron next to it that wasn't nearly ready. I'll be curious to try them next to each other again in 5 years though.

[robert goulet]

Thank u Joel!