Chateau Pichon Comtesse de Lalande - Pauillac Red 2012 Half Bottle

Wine Region: Bordeaux - France (Second Classified Growth)

Grape: Cabernet-Sauvignon (45%), Merlot (35%), Cabernet Franc (12%), Petit Verdot (8%)

Expert Ratings:

About the Winery:

The history of this estate began in 1686, when Pierre de Mazure Rauzan, rich merchant and bourgeois of Bordeaux, bought parcels of vines near the seigniory of Latour and created a vineyard, the Enclos Rauzan. A little later, his daughter receives him as a dowry for his marriage to Jacques François de Pichon Longueville, President of the Parliament of Bordeaux. Thus begins the story of one of the largest vineyards in Bordeaux, kept in the same family for more than 250 years.

In 1855, the quality of the wines was rewarded because the Château reached the rank ofSecond Classified Growth. In those same 1850s, Virginie Comtesse de Lalande took the lead of the estate and asked the Bordeaux architect Duphot for a residence inspired by the Hôtel de Lalande in Bordeaux where her husband had spent his childhood. Her passion for the vineyard as well as the quality of her management make her a remarkable personality who will leave to the domain and style attached to her name.

Unfortunately, after his death, began difficult years marked by a vineyard devastated by powdery mildew, mildew, fraud, then the Great War that dealt a fatal blow to the wine economy. The price of wine is inexorably going down, barely covering operating costs. The heirs of the Countess must then resolve to sell the vineyard and the owners who will follow will thus relentlessly to the revival of the vineyard.

In 2007, it will be the turn of the Champagne House Louis Roederer to ensure the good continuity of this property once again became, since the 1950s, one of the most renowned vintages in the region. In-depth studies of soils and subsoils have resulted in a very precise mapping of the many plots and a better knowledge of the terroir.