On a scorching May day our Bordeaux group convened at Bobby Van’s f or a nose to nose Pichonfest. Luckily the AC worked well, and we had some c ool stuff to let us adjust
2009 Emmanuel Brochet Extra Brut Champagne Dry, approaching austere, saline, touch of oxidative style. I think I might have liked better with food. B
2008 Gaston Chiquet Special Club Brut Champagne Nutty though not at all oxidative, crisp, citrus zest over pear, yeasty not es on finish. Long and fresh. A-
2009 Jean-Noël Gagnard "Caillerets" Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Full and ripe, good acids, pear and citrus, a Niellon-esque gunflint note. B+
On to the reds- each flight we knew the vintage, but not which was Baron an d which was Lalande. The Champagnes were returned to while I
1995
95A- herby, fragrant, spicy, liked a lot and pretty sure Lalande.
1995 Pichon Lalande A-/B+
95B- tannic, tighter, good black currant fruit, tobacco. Needs time.
1995 Pichon Baron B+/B
1996 (most similar flight)
96 A- black fruits, leather, herbs, long
1996 Pichon Lalande A-
96B- lead pencil, cassis, black plum, tighter
1996 Pichon Baron B+
Our steaks arrived (most had tomahawks, I had the plain ribeye) along with regular and truffle fries, corn, and sauteed spinach
1982
82A -mature, midbodied, probably Baron
1982 Pichon Baron B
82B- fleshier, some cigarbox, good.
1982 Pichon Lalande B+
1989
89A riper, full, fleshy and complex.
1989 Pichon Baron A-
89B- exotic, ripe, tasty.
1989 Pichon Lalande A-/B+
1990
90A ripe, spicy, good
1990 Pichon Lalande B+/A-
90B Full, powerful, young
1990 Pichon Baron A-/B+
2000
00A Spicy, herby, aromatic, good black fruit. Needs time. I thought this w as the Lalande
2000 Pichon Baron B+
00B - cassis and cocoa, ripe and a bit tannic. Young.
2000 Pichon Lalande B+
Couple of noteworthy things to me. I don’t think anyone disliked th e ‘90 Pichon Lalande, famously a Parker 79 pointer. And no one to m y knowledge picked out any unusual greenness in the 2000 Pichon Lalande (I was at a 2000 tasting soon after release where room was divided evenly- 33% said a nice herbiness, 33% said a horrible asparagus greenness, and 33% wh at green?)
Group scoring:
1989 PIchon Lalande 19 pts
1989 Pichon Baron 16
1982 PIchon Lalande 12
1996 PIchon Lalande 6
1990 PIchon Baron 5
1995 Pichon Lalande 2
1990 PIchon Lalande 2
Fun night, and a new grandfather expressed his happiness by grabbing check! A great group as always
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine , B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectiv ity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.