Château Pichon Baron 2013

Critic scores

• Wine Enthusiast94
• James Suckling93
• Vinous90
• Jeb Dunnuck90

The 2013 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 78/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: Coulure, mildew, then rain during the harvest: a light vintage, ready to drink.

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, an intense red, is deep, almost black, well turned out. The aromas, fresh, fine, delicate, are discreet: blackberries, morello cherries, then chocolate, forest-floor notes. The tannins are fleshy, dense without aggressiveness, mellow and precise. The attack is very elegant, subtle, refined. The texture rests on an ample, harmonious finish. This is a wine of fine substance that asserts itself without artifice.

Blend of the 2013 vintage

Figures from the 2013 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 31 hl/haYield
• 30 yrsVine age
• 180,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Alcoholic fermentations got underway quickly. The pace was moderate, allowing gentle, fractioned extractions suited to the specific conditions of the vintage. Indeed, priority was given to the finesse of the tannins while preserving the harmony of the great terroirs. It was without any harshness that the polyphenols ultimately reached satisfying, balanced levels of intensity. Malolactic fermentations were carried out quickly in vat, allowing barreling at a steady pace, with the fine lees.

Ageing

18 months in French oak barrels (70% 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.