Château Pichon Baron 2010

Critic scores

• Wine Enthusiast97
• James Suckling94-95
• Vinous94

The 2010 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 99/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A dry summer and cool nights concentrated small berries: a benchmark vintage, with dense tannins and a thirty-year aging potential.

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

The robe is black, very dense, deep, vivid. The aromas are complex, fine, delicate, with small notes of red fruit and toasted, spiced nuances. On the palate, an intense sensation of freshness, power and richness, with concentrated, juicy, precise tannins. The finish is long, fleshy, well defined, ample and indulgent.

Blend of the 2010 vintage

Figures from the 2010 sheet

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

Winemaking

The musts from each plot are vinified individually. The macerations, 18 to 25 days depending on the tasting checks on extraction, are very favorable to the dissolution of anthocyanins and tannins. This is a sign of very good polyphenol quality. Malolactic fermentations are carried out in vat, at a slow pace, particularly for the Merlot. This allows barreling at a steady pace, with the fine lees, contributing to the roundness of the wine.

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.