FICOFI: Château Pichon Longueville Baron 2010, 2005, 2000 & 1957

This is a superb event organised by FICOFI at Nicolas, Singapore, on 27 February 2018 at very short notice, presumably to take advantage of a whistle stop by Xavier Sanchez, Marketing Manager of the AXA Millesimes group of vineyards that include all the estates tasted this evening where the star, no doubt, belonged to Château Pichon Longueville Baron where three outstanding vintages each separated by five years were featured generously in double magnum format. And as if that wasn’t enough, a very fine 1957 (my second bottle in two months!) was offered as well. The food at Nicolas, as usual, never disappoints, ensuring that the wine pairing hits all the right notes. For me, the 2010 Pichon Baron would be the new 2000 while the S de Suduiraut, Petit Village and the Quinta do Noval Porto were all superb as well in their own right. An outstanding evening.

2016 S de Suduiraut Vieilles Vignes. Rich expressive palate preceded by overtones of dry grassy elements, hay and summer heat on the nose. Very good concentration and lovely intensity of white fruits with understated acidity, revealing fine detail with faint echoes of white pepper, tapering to a quiet finish. Great finesse and refinement throughout from this dry white of Sauternes. Excellent.

2014 Château Petit-Village, poured from double magnum. Subdued tones of earth, dark berries, black fruits and graphite. Medium-full. Sits quietly with fine concentration and intensity, framed by highly supply tannins that confer velvety textures, becoming more rounded, warm and open over time. Sexy stuff from a most unexpected source. Excellent.

2010 Château Pichon Longueville Baron, poured from double magnum. Aromas of dense black fruits and dark currants amidst graphite and ferrous minerals with traces of vanillin that produced a subdued masculine fragrance. Opened up very well with food to reveal great concentration of gloriously ripe fruit on the fleshy palate, superbly layered and integrated even at this very early stage, structured with highly supple mouth-puckering tannins that imparted sensational mouthfeel and intensity, underscored by understated acidity throughout its length. Still primal but already such a complete wine. Outstanding.

2005 Château Pichon Longueville Baron, poured from double magnum. Very dark, proffering dense earthy ferrous minerals on the nose. Just beginning to open up on the palate that is still generally tight, infinitely masculine with raw intensity of dark currants, relaxing a little more over time as it developed some degree of suppleness before receding into its minerally shell. Huge potential but awkward and somewhat unresolved at this stage. Give it time.

2000 Château Pichon Longueville Baron, poured from double magnum. Superb hue of deep purple, exuding a deep delicious glow of gloriously ripe dark berries, currants and black fruits amidst overtones of tobacco ember, producing excellent concentration with a gentle searing intensity on the palate, structured with ferrous minerals. Just beginning to hit its stride and will stay the course for decades. Absolutely on song. Superb.

1957 Château Pichon Longueville Baron. Light crimson. Still showing well with a lovely glow of peaches and plums amidst a great earthy pungency, still lively with great acidity, concentration and depth of fruit, utterly seamless, naturally structured and layered with good transparency that revealed its distilled essence of dried tobacco dried leaves, finishing with great length and suppleness. If only we can age just as well. Outstanding.

1997 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage Nacional. Very dark. Highly supple, possessing a great natural unforced quality with gentle depth and understated acidity, producing a lovely minty glow amidst light medicinal touches. Superb.