Tasting notes
Yohan Castaing · Wine Advocate · 100
The bouquet enchants by its expression of pure, crunchy fruit and florality without a trace of oakiness despite barrel-aging with 80% new wood. Some touches of graphite and subtle spices come into the aromatic mix. On a par with the great 2016, this stunning wine has a palate that combines fleshy, velvety texture and linearity as well as remarkable length, and provides convincing testimony of the progress achieved by the estate’s technical team.
Drink 2025 - 2070
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW · Wine Advocate · 99
The 2019 Pichon Baron is a blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot. Deep garnet-purple in color, it charges out of the gate with energetic notes of blackcurrant cordial, juicy blackberries, and licorice, followed by hints of tar, raspberry leaves, and rose oil. The rich, seductive, medium to full-bodied palate is jam packed with black fruit preserves layers, supported by firm grainy tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and layered.
James Suckling · James Suckling · 99
87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot. The highest ever proportion of Cabernet.
Blackberries and blueberries with stone and graphite. Flint and black licorice, too. So perfumed. Full-bodied, very long and linear with incredible length. The new 1990, but better crafted. Chewy, yet so tailored and wonderfully proportioned. Freshness and elegance. Wonderful depth.
Try after 2026
Jeb Dunnuck · Jeb Dunnuck · 98+
Based on 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot raised in 80% new French oak, the 2019 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron is pure class and just a beautiful, seamless Pauillac that does everything right. Revealing a deep purple hue as well textbook notes of blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, freshly sharpened pencils, and liquid violets, it shows the more medium to full-bodied, elegant style of the vintage yet is brilliantly concentrated, has a supple, layered mouthfeel, ripe yet building tannins, and a great, great finish. It's more open and expressive than Mouton and shares plenty of similarities with Comtesse with its layered, supple, just perfectly balanced and classy style. It unquestionably already offers pleasure today (and it's a good time to try a bottle, as I wouldn't be surprised to see it close down), but it will need a decade to hit maturity and it will be a 50-year wine.
Jane Anson · Decanter · 98
Highest proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon on record, a reflection of how exceptionally well this grape did in 2019. The aromatics are all-enveloping, powerful and nuanced and totally delicious, drawing you in and refusing to let go. Slate, pencil lead, cassis, damson, layer upon layer of brilliance, if not quite the over-aweing concentration and enveloping character of the 2016. 80% new oak.
Antonio Galloni · Vinous · 97
The 2019 Pichon-Baron is magnificent. In fact, the 2019 is one of the very finest recent vintages I can remember tasting. Cabernet Sauvignon is the highest ever in the Grand Vin at 87%. That comes through in the wine's vibrancy, explosive power and overall profile. Dark cherry, plum, gravel, licorice and incense infuse the 2019 with tremendous depth to match its virile personality. Pichon-Baron was impressive from barrel and it is again today from bottle. Superb.
Drink 2034 - 2059
Neal Martin · Vinous · 97
The 2019 Pichon Baron is quite closed on the nose, blackberry, bilberry and incense, with graphite and cedar developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, not quite as finessed as Pichon Lalande, but with great structure and density on the close. It needs a little more precision to develop on the finish but just give it time. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
Drink 2026 - 2060
William Kelley · Wine Advocate · 97+
The 2019 Pichon-Longueville Baron will go down as one of this château's great wines of the modern era, along with 2016, 2010 and 1989. Unfurling in the glass with aromas of cassis and plums mingled with notions of cigar wrapper, sweet loamy soil and violets, it's full-bodied, velvety and layered, with superb concentration, lively acids and rich, powdery tannins. Perfumed and resonant, this is a profound young Pauillac that bears more of a resemblance to its neighbor Château Latour than to Pichon Lalande this year. Pichon Baron was one of the great deals of the en primeur campaign, and readers who purchased futures are to be congratulated on their foresight.
Georgie Hindle · Decanter · 97
Ripe and full on the nose. This is dense with drive and concentration where the focus is on the full mouthfeel and dark savoury tones. Some bright acidity on the first impact but the tannins are at the fore right now, on the ripe side with chew - completely coating the mouth, firm and full. Liquorice, bitter dark chocolate, pencil lead and tobacco flavours edge the fruit and linger giving this a serious profile that will need longer to expand and soften. Great potential and underlying power just needs to open a bit. Long flavour though, still in the mouth after a good few minutes.
