Wednesday Wines – Episode 317 – The Last 23 Vintages of Pichon Baron, with Christian Seely & Pierre Montégut
Christian Seely (pictured above) arrived at Château Pichon Baron, 2ème Cru Pauillac, Bordeaux on 2nd January 2001. Here are my thoughts and scores on every (finished and bottled) wine he has presided over during this period. Back in the ‘90s, Pichon Baron made approximately 350000 bottles per year. These days, they average 160000. This reduction in output and the resulting focus and concentration found in the wines is the most important decision he has made, alongside the complete revamp of every other winemaking detail you can think of. His team, including the imperious technical director Pierre Montégut, is one of the finest in the region. Regular readers will know I have followed this estate for aeons and usually adore the wines, and it is fair to say that the decisions Christian has made have catapulted Pichon Baron to the very highest echelons of Bordeaux. I hope this post helps you to choose a couple of cases for your cellar to treasure and a couple to drink now!
NB – these are raw, unedited notes, taken over just 60 minutes, so please forgive the lumpy grammar!
2001 Pichon Baron – open nose, woodsy, old-style, classical, civilised and open; the nose is textbook, cedary, and a little too ‘brown’ and mature. The tannins are balanced and still present, but they will not develop further; they will just fade gracefully. 17.5/20
2002 Pichon Baron – more fruit and less artefact here, which makes the perfume of this wine more immediately attractive. While this is not seemingly as serious a wine as the 2001 on first inspection, it is beautiful, refreshing, and bright, with tannins and acidity in concert, lifting and lengthening the finish. This is a delicious wine that was late-picked, and this long hang time has resulted in serious integrity and class. Very clean and pure, and this, perhaps a surprise for many, but the acidity has always guarded this wine, and time has told its tale. 18/20
2003 Pichon Baron – hotter, sweeter and shorter, this is an abrupt red cannonball that fires at the palate and then disappears. For a brief period, it works though! The tannins are still feisty, and they suck moisture away from the finish. Good for the vintage, but not a patch on the 2002, or indeed the 2001. 17?/20
2004 Pichon Baron – described as an ‘oceanic climate’, with a big crop, this is a more melodic and silkier and certainly much more detailed in terms of fruit character and freshness, the oak is much more controlled here, and the tannins are tucked under this wine with superb dimensions and a lovely balance and potential. Not a blockbuster, but a fabulously well-made wine with honed fruit and a classy finish. This will not turn into anything other than what I see in the glass today, which, in all honesty, is a refined 22-year-old wine. 18/20
2005 Pichon Baron – fleshier and more succulent than the older wines; it has a warmer stance overall and is still hanging together well. Having tasted a few 2005s recently, this is a finer and more even wine with a complete palate, and it is showing no signs of fragmenting. The fruit shows a fine Pichon Baron theme, and the tannins are still firm and active, but I don’t expect to see any more development in the fruit spectrum, just a welcome holding pattern for a few more years. This is a turning point for the wines and a moment when the estate itself started to grab more attention, certainly from this writer. 18.5/20
2006 Pichon Baron – a little more occluded and a little dry (the acid is pronounced) and tangy, this is an oaky wine, and the fruit sits down in the glass, and the tannins seem a little too blunt, hard and teasing. I cannot see it opening further, as it appears stuck in 4th gear, so I would certainly point consumers to the 2005, over this grumpy 2006. Christian thinks it will go further and open to reveal its fruit, but I am sceptical. 17.5+/20
2007 Pichon Baron – an altogether shorter, lighter, and fruitier wine, with a much more red-fruited theme than the others, but it must be recorded that this is a successful wine with 19 years under its belt, and it is still alive, juicy, and positive. I am amazed at the balance here, and this is one of a handful of ‘07s that actually looks charming. 17.5/20
2008 Pichon Baron – the nose is classy, deep and confident, with a rather shy stance, and it needs serious swirling to coax it from the glass. And, eventually, it awakens in the glass. This is a profoundly interesting and fascinating wine with true balance and genuinely serious fruit. Clean, bright, fruit-driven and long. All the elements are here, and with fit tannins, it will continue to evolve. Superb, classy, refined and impressive! 19+/20
2009 Pichon Baron – amazingly plush, bright and layered, this is a succulent wine with gorgeous fruit and stunning balance. This is a lovely wine, and a veritable crowdpleaser. My opinions have not changed from the EP tasting in 2010 and many opportunities since then. This is a more muscular and showy wine, and while I love it, many who favour more demonstrative wines do, too. This will always be a great wine, but 2010 wins for me! 19+/20
2010 Pichon Baron – like 2009, with more class, more layers, more freshness, more definition and more sheer awesomeness. This is a near-perfect Pichon Baron, with pristine, magnificently pure tannins. It has a decade or more ahead of it. Thrilling. 19.5+/20
2011 Pichon Baron – dry, pinched, hard, lean and leafy, this is a difficult wine in a difficult vintage, and while I can still see the terroir and the style, it is just too flat for me. 17?/20
2012 Pichon Baron – this wine promises on the nose and on the very front of the palate, but it runs out of steam and fails to maintain its volume of fruit. The tannins are still quite hard, and this makes the wine seem even more linear and tough. It might turn a corner and soften a little, but this will always be a flatter, harder wine. 17.5+?/20
2013 Pichon Baron – considering the difficulties of the vintage, this is a much more successful wine than expected by all. There is purity, brightness, but no profondeur at all, but having said this, the newly acquired optical sorter came into its own, and a decent wine was made! There is still some development to come, believe it or not, as the tannins are still ticking along. 17.5/20
2014 Pichon Baron – Bold, sturdy, ripe and with searingly bright acidity, this is a feisty, crunchy wine with power and attack. It is rather unresolved in terms of its fruit, and it looks a little like the spiciness and density of 2005, but the acid profile is more akin to 2008! Fascinating. Hold, and do not attempt to drink this wine within at least five years, as there is a lot more to come. 18.5+/20
2015 Pichon Baron – like the 2009, this was a feted vintage with bold, ripe fruit and power, and like the 2009, I prefer the next vintage! This is another superb, suave, multi-faceted wine with intensity and depth. Amazing potential and amazing bravado. 19+/20
2016 Pichon Baron – amazing in every way and nearly as impressive as the 2010! This is a younger wine, yet it has all the potential of the 2010, albeit in a slightly more slender, willowy chassis. The fruit is epically classy, and Cabernet-soaked and the tannins are sensational. This has a further 20 years ahead. 19+/20
2017 Pichon Baron – cooler, greener and more perfumed, this is a sensual wine with a more complex nose and a lithe palate with red fruits appearing among the darker tones. The depth is superb for a trickier year, and I have always loved this wine, not least because it shows superb balance, it is drinking now, and it has enough tension to run for another decade! 17.5/20
2018 Pichon Baron – amazingly well balanced and well appointed, the nose here is incredible, and the fruit characters, while solid and closed, are clearly very impressive. Refreshing tannins and great acidity make the finish as exciting as the nose and palate, making this a superbly balanced wine with great potential, albeit not in a large-framed form, so you will have guessed that I like it more than the muscular vintages! Small berries and great skins were responsible for this great wine, and I happen to think it is one of the very best, along with 2010 and 2016, as well as the following vintages. 100% new oak was used, and it has already melted away perfectly. 20-30 years to run! (at £90 IB per bottle, it looks like a steal!) 19++/20
2019 Pichon Baron – the fruit is explosive and all-encompassing, and the style is about as ‘extreme’ as this property can make. And, perhaps counterintuitively, I love it, not least because this is a glorious study in Cabernet Sauvignon (87%)! The surprising note here is that, alongside the power and structure, the fruit is seriously layered and detailed. This is not a classical blockbuster but a very well-defined wine with irresistible class. 19.5+/ 20
2020 Pichon Baron – structure and power are evident here, and the fruit levels are somewhat heightened and more overt, making this an amazingly ostentatious wine with amazing depth and succulence. Behind this façade, the tannins are superb, so it looks appealing now, but it will run and run! 19+/20
2021 Pichon Baron – layered, perfumed, and evocative, this is a stunner, with clean, fresh, athletic tannins. This is not a crowd-pleaser, nor is it a high scorer, but it is an erudite, complex, and fascinating wine for true enthusiasts of this great estate. The purity is fascinating, and the balance is true. 18/20
2022 Pichon Baron – suave, layered and silky, this is an oddment in the line-up, extremely ripe and voluptuous, yet the tannins and acidity are both refined, clean, controlled, and they fit perfectly into the chassis. Amazing and electric, this is a mesmerising wine. 32 hL/ha makes this a super low-yielding year. 19/20
2023 Pichon Baron – Quieter and more controlled, drier, more reserved, more closed and pinched, this is a classic wine with a lovely balance and an impressively long finish. It is a real baby, and unlike the 2022, which is flattering right now, this is a wine for serious cellaring. 19+/20
MATTHEW JUKES SCORE CONVERSION CHART
As a wine taster and writer, I prefer you to read my words rather than focus on my scores. This is why I rarely score wines unless I write detailed notes. I believe that scores taken from the context of tasting notes are essentially meaningless. I describe my favourite wines in detail so you can imagine their aromas, shapes, and flavours. Scores don’t help with this. You will be aware that several different scoring methods are employed in the global wine trade. Most of my wine-writing colleagues have been tempted to the dark side, using the 100-point rating system. A few, usually older types, cling to the venerable five-star rating. As you know, I favour the 20-point score. It’s how I was taught and dovetails nicely with how I judge wines. For those unfamiliar with the 20-point scoring system, a table is provided below that converts it to other formats.
