Château Pichon Baron 2015

Critic scores

• Wine Enthusiast98
• Wine Advocate97
• James Suckling97
• Vinous96
• Decanter93

The 2015 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 93/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A hot summer tempered by August rains gave expansive wines, with rounded tannins and generous fruit.

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 color of Château Pichon Baron 2015 is deep, garnet red and intense. The nose is very expressive, delicate, offering a beautiful aromatic variety of red fruit, morello cherries, blueberries, lightly underscored by toasted spice. The attack is smooth, with a precise, refined palate, in keeping with the nose. The oak is well integrated, the tannins are velvety, very airy, carried by aromas of ripe, indulgent fruit. The finish is juicy and direct. The whole is voluminous, of a beautiful density throughout the tasting. This wine is harmonious and remarkably balanced between fruit and subtle tannin.

Blend of the 2015 vintage

Figures from the 2015 sheet

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

Winemaking

In order to carry through the plot selection carried out in the vineyard, every small vat was used, and the larger ones were only partially filled. Alcoholic fermentations got underway quickly and proceeded at a moderate pace, allowing extractions mostly during the fermentation phase, gentle and fractioned, suited to each terroir. Priority was given to the finesse of the tannins as well as to the distinctive expression of the varieties according to the character of the soils. Maceration times ranged from 15 to 18 days for the young vines and 20 to 24 days for the older ones, with a daily tasting check on the extractions. Drawing off was completed by the end of November.

Ageing

80% in new barrels and 20% in one-wine barrels, for 20 months.

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.