TNs: A Bordeaux, Champagne and a Loire

1996 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
From 375ml. Always a pleasure having aged Bordeaux, and my first time trying this super-second. The first vintage where PLL moved away from a majority Merlot blend, but the Merlot signature is still very much present with its round suppleness and tarry chocolatey notes. Very good lift and concentration. It definitely met expectations, but is it worth the price? I am not so sure.

2004 Diebolt-Vallois Champagne Blanc de Blancs Millésimé
I absolutely adore this producer having tried both their entry level and tête de cuvée, so couldn’t pass up their mid-level vintage at a good price. It has that lemon, citrus note without heaviness that typifies BdBs that I like. Excellent balance between the yeasty notes from autolysis, acidity and sweetness. The Fleur de Passion amplifies the richness and cut but at less than half the price this is a wonderful drink.

2007 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Le Clos Guillot
The nose was unmistakable manure that is brett, but it blew off with time. Not sure if brett blows off over time though? Nonetheless, palate was fine - not particularly complex but had a good punchy character that brought out some lovely raspberry. None of the Cab Franc greenness. The good thing about Baudry is that prices are friendly enough to try all the cuvées without breaking the bank.

Very nice line-up. Thanks for the notes.

Great line-up and thanks for sharing.

Btw the title sounds like one of those jokes that start along the lines of “an irish, an italian, and a frechmen walk into a bar…” [wow.gif]

Love the Pichon. From full bottle, the one I had a month ago may have been a little fresher than yours, as we found it a tad young. For me in the top echelons of 1996 Bordeaux, and it is worth the price.

Mark Golodetz wrote:
Love the Pichon. From full bottle, the one I had a month ago may have been a little fresher than yours, as we found it a tad young. For me in the top echelons of 1996 Bordeaux, and it is worth the price.

+1. The bottle that we had earlier this year was awesome.

Ed

Is this finally turning the corner? I had a bottle in 2016 that was shut down still, not hard, but all wrapped up and inscrutable. I decided/hoped it needed more time.

I had earlier bottles of the 95 and 96 PLL around 2004-2005 what were splendid.

Pat, the last time I had the Pichon was in 2014, and my thoughts were similar to yours at that time. The bottle that we had earlier this year was excellent.

Ed