Pichon Baron Uncovered- History, Wines & a 2025 Barrel Sample

But in 1850, on the eve of his death, Baron Joseph de Pichon-Longville divided his large Poyack estate among his five children. He wanted to be fair to everyone, so his three daughters received three-fifths of the vineyard, which ultimately became Pichon-Comtesse, and his two sons received the other two-fifths, which ultimately became Pichon-Barone. Five years later, both Pichon-Comtesse and Pichon-Barone were classified as second growths in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux. In the 1980s, the current owners of Pichon-Barone acquired it, and they wasted no time implementing a number of important changes that greatly improved the quality of the wine. Among other things, they started harvesting later in the growing season so that the fruit was more ripe, they introduced a second wine, and made sure that they used a much more strict selection of fruit for the top wine. They also used a higher percentage of new oak for the maturation of the top wine. These efforts had a big impact on the wines, and Pichon-Barone made some extremely strong wines in 1989 and 1990, which to this day is one of my favorite vintages ever for Pichon-Barone. Back in the 80s, the new owners also greatly expanded the vineyards, and now Pichon-Barone has around 73 hectares of vines. These vines are planted to 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and there's smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Notably, however, only Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are used in the top wine. As with most top Bordeaux producers, the vineyards are divided into numerous different plots, and both farmed and vinified, not just a plot-by-plot basis, but also by grape variety. Beginning with the 2010 vintage, the selection used by Pichon-Barone became even more strict because they started to implement an optical sorting machine. Just to give you an idea of how much more strict they are today with the selection for the top wine, back in 2000 they made around 30,000 cases of the top wine, but today they're producing around half that amount. The Pichon-Barone top wine comes from fruit from some of their oldest vines that are grown in historic plots that were used to produce wine way back in the late 1600s. This wine is typically around 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, although the precise blend will vary from vintage to vintage. Pichon-Barone produces a wine that's both powerful and elegant, certainly a bit more powerful than Pichon Comtesse. Nevertheless, it's certainly capable of aging for up to a few decades as well. This wine typically has more of a dark fruit profile and additional descriptors that include tobacco, cedar, graphite, earth, and mixed spice. Not that long ago, Pichon-Barone completed a comprehensive overhaul of its winery, and the facilities are very much state-of-the-art. They mature the top wine for around 18 months in although the precise percentages will vary by vintage. While I was there, the winemaking team was nice enough to also give me a demonstration of how they use traditional racking by candlelight. They also let me get an early taste of the 2025 Pichon-Barone, which had impressive purity of fruit. With respect to some of my favorite vintages for Pichon-Barone, I've already mentioned the 1989 and 1990, but I certainly also very much enjoy 1996, 2000, 2003, and 2005. But they really picked things up to a whole new level beginning with the 2009 vintage. 2009 and 10 were of course very strong, but beginning with 2014, you can pretty much buy with confidence every single vintage. Even in the challenging 2021 vintage, Pichon-Barone made one of the very best wines on Bordeaux's left bank, particularly because they used one of the highest percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon for their top wine in their history, and 2021 was definitely a vintage where Cabernet Sauvignon shined on Bordeaux's left bank. Currently you can find both the 2022 and 2023 vintages in the market. 2022 is a little bit more highly regarded. Ratings tend to range between 96 and 98 points compared to 95 to 97 points for the 2023, but both were excellent vintages. The 2023 will sell for about $25 less in the United States, right around $175 or so, whereas the 2022 will cost closer to $200 a bottle. When I was at the winery, I had a chance do a comparison tasting between the 2017 and 2018 vintages. The 2017 vintage was definitely more approachable and getting close to the early stage of its drinking window. I think the 2018 was definitely the wine that I would score the highest if I was going to rate those two vintages, but that's definitely one that will take some additional bottle age before it reaches its peak. If you have any favorite vintages of Pichon-Barone, or if you've tried it recently, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Pichon-Barone also makes two other red wines that I'll be discussing in this video. Both offer excellent value at around $50 per bottle in the United States. The first of these wines is also my favorite, and it's called Les Graffons de Pichon-Barone. This is a wine that's been produced since the 2012 vintage. It's typically a blend that consists of around 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot, although certainly that will vary by vintage. This wine matures in around 60% New French Oak, but they also use Amphora for the maturation. In fact, not only Pichon-Barone, but also some other Bordeaux producers that I visited recently spoke very highly of the results that they're getting from maturing some of their wines in Amphora, so that's definitely a trend that I expect to see continue in the future. This wine is really a tremendous value at around $50 per bottle. I tasted the 2018 vintage when I was at the winery, and it was showing extremely well, but it certainly has a long life ahead of it as well. This is wine that can age up to 20 years in strong vintages. The other second wine made by Pichon-Barone dates way back to 1983. Historically, this wine has been called Les Tourelles de Longville, but beginning with the 2023 vintage, the name is going to be changed to Les Tourelles de Pichon-Barone. This is wine that definitely has a higher percentage of low, often around 70% or so, and then the rest of the blend consists of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. This wine matures for about one year in oak, 30% of which is new, and 70% of which had one previous use. The fruit for this wine comes from a specific plot of vines that's called Saint Anne. This is wine that's better with about three to five years of additional bottle age, and it will certainly last up to 15 years or so with no problem at all. While I was at the winery, I also had the opportunity to taste a very special white wine from Pichon-Barone. They only made about 400 bottles of this particular wine. It's a bit of an experiment of sorts. It's 100% Sémillon. It was certainly a very intriguing wine, and one that I hope they roll out on a broader scale in the years to come. If you'd like to learn more about Super Second Bordeaux producers, please be sure to watch this video that's linked above, where I discuss Ducroux Caillou, Pichon Comtesse, Chateau Montrose, and Coste d'Asternal.