Pichon Lalonde Tasting a Disappointment

[dstgolf]

Another succesful golf and wine event with the boys. We've made this an upscale private member guest event limited to eight exclusive entrants. Has been fabulous for six years now.

Start with a round of golf at one of our clubs playing net best ball. Last year my buddy who has never won the event brought his friend/client Daniel Alfredson captain of our Ottawa Senators hockey team as his partner. Great guy and quite interested in learning about wine. They won last year but finished dead last this year. We returned to the champions circle this year.

After golf back to my friends where dinner was catered by the Speaker of the House of Parliments private chef. Started with 1976 Moulin Touchais. Lovely wine with nice acidity,sweetness and well balanced. Went nicely with cold boiled shrimp with remoulade sauce, brie/pear and strawberry crisp along with tampenade.Tampenade had a little fig and sun dried tomato added to it to bring up the sweetness which matched perfectly with the wine.

Pichon Lalande Vertical (initially supposed to be Pontet Canet but last minute switch).

76 P Lalande One step from dead. Nose showed some life but all soya sauce and mushroom going down. Little to no fruit. Some said disgusting wine but I tried to find some redeaming characters but it was hard.

82 P Lalande Certainly we've had this one twice before most recently two years back when it was absolutely stellar. Stuart described a beautiful wine at BWE 2009 when he presented two bottles of the same.This bottle was certainly on it's downward slide. Nose was muted and colour starting to brick. Not the jet black colour I remember.Storage not in question here but I wonder about mildly corked even though I didn't get any on the nose and I'm usually pretty sensitive to cork taint. Nice enough to drink but fruit fading with mushroom earthy notes predominating. As it sat in the glass over the next hour it became quite acrid and off tasting . Again disappointing. 87 pts

90 P Lalonde A controversial wine historically but we've enjoyed several bottles before and has always been quite pleasant. Nice nose with spice,blackberries and cedarwith a touch of leather. Still drinking well but earthy mushroomy notes that were in the background detracted from an otherwise pleasnt but not great wine. 88 pts

98 P Lalande Read that this was drinking well and a better than expected wine. According to whom I'm not sure. Nice black fruit and fresh young blackberry cassis nose. Good length but unripe green drying tannins on the finish don't give me much hope that this will develop in to a star with further aging. Worth a try to keep it for another 5 years to give it a chance though.

Overall I must say this was our most disappointing vertical of the six we've had so for. Every one of these wines disappointed for differing reasons. Certainly are lesser fans of PL than we've been previously and by comparing notes with the Baron tasting of two years ago there is no question where are preferance lies between the two Pichon properties.

Have to run for a tee time at 11am. I'll continue with the rest of dinner and wines tomorrow.

Danny

[ChrisW]

Danny,

Sounds indeed like a very disappointing tasting. Especially the 1982 must have been a let down.

Pichon Lalande can be very, very, good and for some people it is their favourite proporty in the Medoc, raving about its finesse. Two weeks ago I attended a dinner in Bordeaux where one of the people (from the UK) at my dinner table was one of these die hard fans of Pichon Lalande. Varying experiences over the last years have not yet made it my favourite wine. My personal experience is that the wine made at the other side of the road, pichon baron, is a more consistent performer, similar to what you are saying in your post. The ratio pichon baron vs pichon lalande is also about 8:1 in my cellar.

ChrisW

[SteveH]

Danny,

Nicely coodinated events such as your's are always fun. The wine experience can be as much a wild card as a hail storm on the golf course. It's all about having a good time, and no doubt it was.

I was a proud buyer of 1976 Bordeaux futures. These wines presented quite a treat for me at the time because they were very, very affordable. I was in my mid-twenties, so their low price was my first time key to the world of 1st Growths and super classified names. I bought nearly all of them by the case including Pichon Lalande. This was a lovely, focused wine with moderate ripe fruit, but the wine was definitely best drunk young. In fact, I consumed all of these chateaux within ten years, and with no regrets whatsoever. I saw myself as quite the bigshot drinking Chateau Lafite Rothschild ($20.), as this wine was an outstanding mind opener to the highest caliber Bordeaux. For me, 1976 was a great vintage. Thanks for the memories!

[DavidG]

Congrats on the event and the golf championship, Danny.

Sorry to hear the wines were a disappointment, especially the '82. That wine has been extraordinary every time I've had it. Neither cork taint (TCA) nor poor storage conditions have to be invoked to explain the poor showing. It may be that the cork seal just wasn't up to snuff, and allowed more rapid maturation/oxidation of this particular bottle. That's why they have the old saying about "great bottles" rather than "great wines."

[stefan]

Congratulations on the golf win, Danny. Lucie and I have gotten hooked on this great sport.

Too bad about the disappointing lady Pauillacs, especially the elegant 1982.

stefan

[JimHow]

That '82 Lalande was outstanding in DC but my personal Pichon Lalande favorite remains the '86.
Thanks for the report, Danny, sounds like quite an event.

[PappaDoc]

Danny,

Indeed the 82 Lalande should have blown you away. Definately a bad btl. This said, I find Lalande one of the most inconsistant Chateau. I've had the 90 a half dozen times and each time its' been a poor showing. I wouldn't pay $20 for a btl. Then again the 96 is a knock-Out, and I think that one is worth $150+.

Agree with Jim the 86 is great, along with the 83 and 82, legendary!

[DavidG]

Pichon Lalande has certainly misfired at times, but when they are on, they are great. Pappa, I'm with you on the '96, and think it will be getting even better with more age.

[DavidG]

...and the '86 is awesome as well.

[Claudius]

Guys,
A few years back I attended a large vertical hosted by Gildas Ollone from PL.
The wines were very good, but I thoought not in the same class as the Cos D'estournel tasting a few months previously.
Anyway, I recall the following - ALL wines came directly from the Chateau and there were no duds, leaking wines or (thankfully) corked bottles!

1975 - even in 2005, it was wel past its best, browning at the rim, some sweet fruit but decaying rapidly. I nneve3r liked this wine anyway.
1978 - Much better but fading fast - the wine offered some red fruits but several years past its prime
1981 - very good though showing its age - plummy, earthy red fruits
1983 - richer than the 81, more density and power. One of the best 83s and fully ready 4 years ago.
1985 - in good shape, medium bodied, sweetish fruit, easy to drink. Drink soon.
1986 - Still tannic and firm but it was the best wine to me. Dense, dark fruits, firm tannic frame. Shows the vintage well.
1989 - rounder, softer and sweeter than the 86 but not the complexity or depth. Very pleasant and ready to go. Second fav
1994 - a bit angular and greenish tanins but quite good. Some depth of fruit but lacks finesse.
1995 - Bit like the 89 lonly younger - medium bodied, nice fruit, soft tannins (for the vintage). Keep or drink
1996 - Firmer, more tannic and I think better than the 95 but some others disagreed. Lacked a touch in concentration compared to the best 96s.
2001 - Never my fav vintage for PL - showed stalky characters and the tannins and were a bit spiky. Did not seem ripe to me - but others seemed less concerned.

I think there were a few other vintages but I can't recall all. The chateau's over "when to drink" guide suggested that the 90 should all be well drunk now! Like before the early 00's or something. 82 not shown worse luck and I've never had it.

Anyway, I have only a few vintages of PL - 96, 01 and 02. I like the wine but it offers a lot of vintage variation - not in style but quality (that is, too much for a super second) though when it does get it right, it is an excellent wine.

[Ramon_NYC]

The 1983 PL remains as one of my favorite Bordeaux. It continues to drink well up until lately.

Also, loved the 86.