2016 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
Community Tasting Note
csimm wrote:
Tuesday, November 5, 2019 - Black currant, licorice, and earthy spice start out on the front end on the initial attack, with dark black cherry, cassis, espresso foam, pencil lead, tobacco, embers, and scorched earth emerging with a bit of additional air. Beautiful mid-palate depth, with also a racy push of energy and intensity that move the flavors perfectly though the back end with a noteworthy pop of flavor. Stays deep and dark while also holding necessary tension. Finishes with beautiful vivacity.
Even in its youth, this wine has a multi-tiered stacking that it more than hints will continue come a few more years in bottle. It certainly displays a slow burning and brooding-attention-grabbing factor. I was actually pretty surprised by this wine...but not in that gross eyebrow-raising startled-surprised way like seeing Jeffrey Epstein at a Zendaya concert (what...? ...too soon??).
97-99 points. Hold for another few years.
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5 comments have been posted
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Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:
11/5/2019 10:08:00 PM - Not soon enough. Great notes! Will be interesting to see your take on this or others like SHL in 2009 or 2010 vintages as a foundational tasting for future direction. Would be very curious indeed! Thank you for jumping in and posting.
Comment posted by csimm:
11/5/2019 10:53:00 PM - I’m definitely wanting to try some back vintages (09 and 10 specifically as you’d mentioned) to see where my palate lands. 2015 seems to be a vintage I really like in many respects. 2016 is likely a fresher vintage, but 2015 is darker (I know that’s not universally true 100% of course). Those back vintages I’ve had of other lesser Bordeaux have really been more earthy. I like that, but don’t always love it.
Comment posted by LiteItOnFire:
11/6/2019 7:12:00 AM - It’s interesting with Bordeaux wines (IMO$, unlike Napa, the vintages have extreme impact on the style vs Napa where there is significant uniformity. In those great years, unlike Napa, it feels like the fruit holds for a longer period of time allowing for the acid/tannin to not only integrate but enhance to an almost starling degree- at least for the first 10-20 years. I am not a fan of the earthly predominate (or earthy and herbal) without the core of fruit to keep it humming.
Comment posted by csimm:
11/6/2019 8:38:00 PM - Totally agree. I am anxious to know how these wines will behave in 10 years. Trying back-vintages will help a little, but it really does seem to depend on the specific vintage... And it seems a lot of Bordeaux houses have elevated (and cleaned up) their processes over the recent years too.
Comment posted by WineBurrowingWombat:
11/7/2019 9:34:00 AM - I am learning so much right now..