CHATEAU PICHON LONGUEVILLE COMTESSE DE LALANDE - RESERVE DE LA COMTESSE 2017 - Pauillac France - Red Wine

Country : France
Region : Bordeaux - Pauillac
Type : Red
Year : 2017
Volume : 75 cl

WINE CRITICS : 92 points Decanter  Outer quote mark This is a wonderful second wine, and a real success in a vintage where second wines are often punching below their weight. It's rich, plump, floral-edged and above all extremely drinkable. It has a juicy frame and it delivers. A 2% pinch of Petit Verdot adds spice (and is added only after the press wine, the absolute final step to add depth, if needed). They used no secondary fruit at all. This should be good to go in five to six years. Tasted several times. (JA) Inner quote mark (4/2018)

92 points Vinous
Outer quote mark The 2017 Réserve de la Comtesse came from a barrel that had begun its élevage in a new barrel and then transferred into a used one. It has a well defined bouquet with blackberry, oyster shell and subtle marine scents, a nose that is full of character. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, a fine bead of acidity and impressive density for a Deuxième Vin. A seductive, graphite tinged finish. This is an excellent follow-up to the 2016 and may even surpass it. (NM) Inner quote mark (2/2020)

91 points Jeb Dunnuck
Outer quote mark Starting with the second wine, the 2017 Reserve de la Comtesse has the hallmark purity and elegance of this estate front and center, showing a deep ruby color, classy notes of blackcurrants, cassis, white flowers, and hints of graphite, medium body, and sweet, polished tannins. A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, brought up in 40% new oak, it tastes like a mini-grand vin from this great estate and I suspect will have a broad 15- to 20-year drink window. Inner quote mark (2/2020)

91 points James Suckling
Outer quote mark Some fresh-herb, cedar and berry aromas and flavors. Medium to full body, creamy tannins and a delicious finish. Shows tension and structure, though it’s a little green. Inner quote mark (1/2020)

91 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Outer quote mark The 2017 Reserve de la Comtesse is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it strolls out of the glass with nonchalant notions of preserved red plums, black cherries, kirsch and black raspberries with wafts of wilted roses, cinnamon toast, fallen leaves and tilled soil. Medium-bodied, the palate is very pretty, with delicately played tannins and bags of freshness, finishing wonderfully fragrant. (LPB) Inner quote mark (3/2020)

ABOUT THE VINEYARD : A vineyard replanting program has also been launched, favoring a better match between the grape variety, its respect of the nature and of the soil. Cabernet Sauvignon (62%), Merlot (28%), Cabernet Franc (7%) and Petit Verdot (3%): the variety and proportion of Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is unique in the appellation. The property remains faithful to the tradition of harvest by hand: every year more than 100 people pick the grapes according to the degree of maturity and the age of the plots: the Merlot, early variety, inaugurates the harvest and the Cabernet with Petit Verdot , late varieties, close them. The vatting time varies from 18 to 24 days depending on the year.

ABOUT THE WINERY Formerly known as ‘Reserve de la Comtesse’ and featuring a small portrait of Virginie de Pichon Longueville, the estate’s second wine will henceforth be known as ‘Pichon Comtesse Réserve’. The changes will be in place from the 2017 vintage onwards.

In the Bordeaux region the classified crus have mixed soils, but large enough tracts of land to make very rigorous selections. It is only the quest for excellence during the XVIIIth century that led the owners to elaborate several wines of different quality. Severe selecting is the guarantee of quality of a great wine, but also of a second wine.
Today, the second wines represent between 20 and 50 % of the total production of the Chateau. From the same soil, the second wine benefits from the same technology as the great wine, and also its reputation. They are generally excellent wines, though less robust and long lasting than their elders.

The archives kept at Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande mention the existence of a second wine as early as the XIXth century: 27 April 1890, shipping of four bottles of the vintage 1874 second wine to the Moscow exhibition.
In addition, the accounts book for the year 1874, that details the production of the year confirms that the second wine was rigorously selected.
The second wine of Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, The Réserve de la Comtesse, was created and sold for the first time in 1973.

ABOUT HISTORY The history of this estate began in 1686, when Pierre de Mazure Rauzan, rich merchant and bourgeois of Bordeaux, bought parcels of vines near the seigniory of Latour and created a vineyard, the Enclos Rauzan. A little later, his daughter receives it as a dowry for his marriage to Jacques François de Pichon Longueville, President of the Parliament of Bordeaux. Thus begins the story of one of the largest vineyards in Bordeaux, kept in the same family for more than 250 years. In 1855, the quality of the wines is rewarded because the property reaches the rank of Second Cru Classé. In those same 1850s, Virginie Comtesse de Lalande took the lead of the estate and commissioned the Bordeaux architect Duphot for a house inspired by the Hôtel de Lalande in Bordeaux where her husband had spent his childhood. Her passion for the vineyard as well as the quality of her management make her a remarkable personality who will leave the domain an imprint attached to her name. Unfortunately, after his death, began difficult years marked by a vineyard devastated by powdery mildew, fraud, then the Great War that dealt a fatal blow to the wine economy. The price of wine is inexorably going down, barely covering operating costs. The heirs of the Countess must then resolve to sell the vineyard and the owners who will follow will thus contribute to the revival of the vineyard. In 2007, the Champagne House Louis Roederer ensured the good continuity of this property which became, since the 1950s, one of the most renowned vintages in the region. Réserve de la Comtesse is thus the second wine of the property, it was created and put on the market for the first time in 1973. On the other hand, the first symbols of second wines of the Castle appeared around 1870.

ABOUT PICHON LONGUEVILLE COMTESSE DE LALANDE