CHÂTEAU PICHON LALANDE

The 2014 Pichon Lalande has the edge over Pichon Baron a few months ago. It is a tight race but here Pichon Lalande edges it. It has a wonderful, complex, intense bouquet with blackberry, briary, graphite and mint – just a straight-down-the-line Pauillac with all the aristocratic flair you look for. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, layers of pure black fruit laced with graphite and mint. It is blessed with a satin-like texture, not a hair out of place from start to finish, with a long, persistent aftertaste that completes a fabulous wine for the vintage. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. Drinking range: 2022 - 2055 Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2018)

One of the highlights in a dark horse vintage for Bordeaux, the 2014 Pichon Lalande is absolutely exquisite. Aromatic and silky on the palate, with bright, finely sculpted fruit and mid-weight structure, the 2014 is a picture-perfect example of the best 2014 has to offer. I have always adored the 2014 Pichon Lalande. This tasting only serves to reinforce that feeling. Ideal conditions in September extended the harvest and yielded perfumed, silky wines. Drinking range: 2020 - 2044 Rating: 97 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Oct 2017)

Last year's varietal Cabernet Sauvignon wasn't to everyone's taste (although I loved it), but this is a more classic Pichon Comtesse. It's typically fresh and alluring with compact, age worthy tannins, oodles of perfume, fine black cherry, graphite and blackcurrant fruit and a chalky, minerally lift. Very impressive. Drinking range: 2022 - 2032 Rating: 95 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (May 2015)

65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot. Up to 60% new oak. Very opulent nose. But almost more like a scent than a wine - as though all the effort has been put into the rather exotic perfume. Then quite vigorous and chewy. Rich and glamorous. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2015)

Red fruits, bramble the nose is fresh the start of the palate bright quite fragrant and fresh. The mid palate is rich serious deep lots of black fruits enriched by cocoa. Lighter at the back length of fruit precision and harmony the fresher black fruits lingering on the finish. Drinking range: 2027 - 2040 Rating: 89-92 Derek Smedley MW, www.dereksmedleymw.co.uk (Apr 2015)

What a joy to feel the ultra-fine tannins in this wine! It really is like touching fine silk. It’s full-bodied with integrated drip fruit of tar, blackberries, minerals as well as a compacted and very long finish. Polished texture. Strong elegance. Reminds me of some outstanding wines of the 1980s such as 1986. Rating: 93-94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2015)

The Château Pichon-Lalande 2014 is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot picked over five weeks between 16 September and 20 October. It has a very pure and precise bouquet with a light marine influencing the black cherries and blueberry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with a tense, graphite-tinged opening, a fine line of acidity (pH 3.72) and a silky smooth finish. The Cabernet Sauvignon is very expressive and dominates the Merlot at the moment, although the Merlot is essentially counterbalancing what might have been a much more austere Pichon-Lalande. Under Nicolas Glumineau, this Pauillac estate is really beginning to "motor" and this is an excellent wine, one within touching distance of the First Growths. Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Apr 2015)

Vibrant, with a blaze of iron running from start to finish, while dark currant, cherry and plum fruit forms the core. The long, grippy, integrated finish shows excellent vivacity. Rating: 92-95 James Molesworth, The Wine Spectator (Apr 2015)