Pichon Gurus

[Chateau Vin]

Pichon Gurus,

Generally speaking, 2005 was a stellar vintage compared to 2006. But I see people favoring 2006 Pichon Lalande over 2005 Pichon Lalande. Does anyone comment on that and know what got goofed up at Pichon in 2005?

Thanks...

[dstgolf]

I'm not sure that anyone "goofed up". Certainly the 2006 PL is very good being more traditional in style and more approachable in its youth. The 05 may be great in the future but like most 05s they are very tannic less fruit showing certainly at this time. I don't purport to be an expert and am awful at judging young wines to predict what will be great. I felt in general for a vintage that 05was tannic along with 06 but 05 had riper fuller fruit which should bode well for the future. Only time will tell but I would think that the 05 should surpass the 06 for the long term. Not sure if many of us will be able to enjoy many of these questioned pleasures without a straw and bib!!

Danny

[JonB]

I am not a Pichon guru by any stretch, but had the 2005 Lalande twice not long after it appeared on shelves and found it a pretty, feminine, red fruited wine --- very atypical for the vintage. The nose was also attractive and pretty.

The 2006 tasted at a similar release stage was darker, slightly more concentrated and a mix of black and red fruits, and full bodied.

I bought neither.

[Bacchus]

I was doing some reading about PLL for anther purpose, when I came across these contradictory interpretations of the relationship between the 05 and 06 vintages. HWSRN says the 06 "blows away" the 05. In his diametrically opposed opinion, Neal Martin refers to the 06 as the lesser cousin of the "great" 05! Sigh. Think I'll stop reading these guys.