Super Barons

[Comte Flaneur]

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. 

[JimHow]

wow!Wow! Wow!
I have a case each of the 2000 and 2002.
Sigh, we got those 2002s for like $30 in NH a few years back.
i remember how stunning that 2000 Baron was, a BWE Co-Wine of the Year.

[AlexR]

Thanks Ian. Sounds like a super tasting.

I am surprised by your comment re the 2000 "Give it another 5-7 years.".
Is that all?
That's good news for me, because I'm not into wines to age for 30 years anymore...

Best regards,
Alex

[DavidG]

Wow is right - you are making me thirsty Ian!

[stefan]

Very good, Ian. The biggest surprise for me is that the '02 is drinking beautifully.

[marcs]

2000 PB was amazing for about 7-8 years but now it seems like a lot of the great left bank 2000s are in a kind of a cranky mood. That is leading some to reassess the vintage but I think/hope/(pray?) that they will emerge by 2015-20. They were too amazing young to just turn it off completely.

Any thoughts on relative quality of 2000/2005/2009/2010? The great vintage debate...

[Comte Flaneur]

Marc I didnt like the 2000 Pichon Baron in its infancy before it shut down hard, and this helped color my negative view of the vintage more generally. But what is emerging on the other side is really special. Of course it is nowhere near ready, hence the 5-7 year advice, which is probably a minimum.

As to your question it is a very tough one. The first one I would discard is the 2010, only because I have tasted even better 2010s. The 2009 is just ridiculously drop dead gorgeous. But of the four the 2005 probably impressed me the most.

I just bought six 2002s. They are about 30% of the price of the 2000 and probably 95% as good. That for me is a good relative value trade.

[Claudius2]

I bought 6 each of the 2002 PB and PL and seems like a good move.

[marcs]

Marc I didnt like the 2000 Pichon Baron in its infancy before it shut down hard, and this helped color my negative view of the vintage more generally. But what is emerging on the other side is really special. Of course it is nowhere near ready, hence the 5-7 year advice, which is probably a minimum.

The 2000 PB had so much baby fat when it was young that it tasted quite Californian -- I remember notes of barbecue sauce and molasses, stuff I normally get with CA but not so much Bdx left bank. But I always had faith that the Bdx bone structure was under there somewhere.

2002 is in a nice place right now and has been for a while, wiry and lithe but with enough fruit to make it pleasantly chewy and give it a nice midpalate. I don't think it will be a super long ager though, drink those up by 2020.

[Jay Winton]

I remember finishing a 2000 PB at the DC convention a few years ago and wishing I had a case. Top tier PB, IMO.

[Comte Flaneur]

Marc I didnt like the 2000 Pichon Baron in its infancy before it shut down hard, and this helped color my negative view of the vintage more generally. But what is emerging on the other side is really special. Of course it is nowhere near ready, hence the 5-7 year advice, which is probably a minimum.

The 2000 PB had so much baby fat when it was young that it tasted quite Californian -- I remember notes of barbecue sauce and molasses, stuff I normally get with CA but not so much Bdx left bank. But I always had faith that the Bdx bone structure was under there somewhere.

Spot on Marc. That is what threw me. It tasted Californian. So did Chateau Margaux 2000 at a vertical some years ago. Really bamboozled by that too.