Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1996

A fruity and delicate red wine from Pauillac

The property

Second Grand Cru Classé of Pauillac, the magnificent Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande shines in the Pauillac appellation.

It was in 1925 that the Miailhe family, under the guise of Édouard and Louis Miailhe, acquired this property on the left bank of Bordeaux. An emblematic figure of Gironde viticulture, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, daughter of Edouard Miailhe, ran the Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande from 1978 to 2007, the date of the estate's acquisition by the Rouzaud family, owners of the Champagne House Louis Roederer.

The vineyard

A reference among the wines of Pauillac, the Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande oversees a vineyard located near the Gironde estuary and resting on soils composed of gravelly hills on sandy-clay subsoils.

The vintage

The winter is mild and not very rainy. The mildness of March and April gives way to a June whose coolness and humidity cause some coulure. Warm, the summer is punctuated by rainy episodes in the second half of August. Cool but sunny, September promotes the slow and homogeneous maturation of the berries, especially cabernet sauvignon, until the harvests begun on September 24th.

Blend

Cabernet sauvignon (75%)
Merlot (15%)
Cabernet franc (5%)
Petit verdot (5%)

Characteristics and tasting advice for Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1996

Tasting 

Throughout the tasting, this wine reveals its subtle alliance between power and elegance, through a full body and perfectly integrated tannins.