Château Pichon Baron 2024

Critic scores

• James Suckling95-96
• Vinous94-96
• Wine Advocate90-93
• Decanter91

The 2024 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 87/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A rainy spring and a difficult flowering reduced the crop; the dry October saved fine, light, easy-drinking wines.

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

""A deep, contemplative nose, of expressive red fruit, of red liquorice. On the palate, the fruit, at perfect ripeness, gains in intensity, wrapped in a sensual, caressing texture. A discreet salinity comes to brush the inside of the cheeks, bringing relief and tension. The finish is long, supple, quite simply divine."" Le Figaro

Blend of the 2024 vintage

Figures from the 2024 sheet

• 180,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Maceration temperatures ranged between 25 and 27°C. Extractions were

preferentially carried out at the height of fermentation, and daily tastings refined the length

of post-fermentation maceration.

Ageing

70% in new barrels, 30% in one-wine barrels, for 18 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.