Château Pichon Baron 2007

The 2007 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 83/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A cool, wet summer demanded strict selection: light, delicious wines, to be drunk young.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pauillac. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

This is a wine of great freshness, with fine, delicate aromas. A very beautiful sensation of fullness on the palate with a refined touch. Everything comes together through concentrated, ripe and mellow tannins. The finish is very long, delectable and fleshy. A wine altogether balanced, favoring harmony and subtlety. The oak is integrated, the tannins are dense and shimmering. The character is well defined by the deep color, a present, juicy structure, a crunchy, airy tannin grain, giving a whole of great amplitude.

Blend of the 2007 vintage

Figures from the 2007 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 30 yrsVine age
• 180,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

The richness in sugars was good and fermentation proceeded gently. The first runnings confirmed a high concentration of anthocyanins, the richest in recent years, and refined tannins. Acidity was normal and the fermentations were very calm. Malolactic fermentations proceeded quickly, allowing for early, rapid barreling. The new cellar, now operational, received the lots for their ageing.

Ageing

15 months in French oak barrels (80% new).

Terroir

Overlooking the Latour vineyard, the 73 ha of Domaine de Pichon Baron extend over gravelly soils of very high quality. This unique land, low in nutrients and without excess water, sparingly feeds old vine stocks whose grape production is deliberately small but of exceptional nobility. This terroir is capable of producing extraordinary wines, which the property sets out to do with excellence and consistency, respecting the original history of this vineyard. Composed of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, the extensive Pichon Baron vineyard has been divided up into meticulously defined plots. The great 40 ha terroir of the Pichon Baron knoll is devoted solely to the production of the Grand Vin and today accounts for the greater part of its blend.