Chateau Pichon Baron 2018

Generous aromatics of dark berry fruit, caramel, and spice are clear indicators of a warm vintage, but there are also floral notes and no heaviness whatsoever. There is juicy, savoury substance on the palate, sustained by gossamer tannins of surprising delicacy, but lurking underneath is the power so characteristic of this vintage. A few years of cellaring will be needed for the terroir expression to hit its stride.

• Drinking Window: 2025 - 2070
• Reviewer Name: Yohan Castaing
• Review Date: December 2021

Incredibly dark in color, the wine pops with Cuban cigar, cedar, herbs, tobacco leaf, red and black currants, forest floor and peppery spice box aromas. This could be the most concentrated, powerful vintage of Pichon Baron ever produced. The wine is very concentrated, full and deep. Yet, with all this depth of flavor, everything remains perfectly balanced. The tannins are ripe. Full-bodied and lush on the palate, with layers of sweet, ripe, dark red fruits in the finish, the wine really sticks with you. Jean-Rene Matignon feels this is his best vintage. I am not sure I agree. But if it is not, it is damn close to it! The wine blends 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Merlot. Due to its immense power, this is the only vintage of Pichon Baron aged in 100% new oak, however, the oak is already fully integrated into the wine.

• Reviewer Name: Jeff Leve
• Review Date: May 2019

A beautiful, majestic Pauillac that reminds me a little of the 2000, the 2018 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron checks in as 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Merlot that was brought up in 80% new French oak. It shows the estate's more pure Cabernet, focused, elegant style yet offers full-bodied richness and serious depth of fruit as well as awesome notes of crème de cassis, graphite, lead pencil shavings, tobacco, and wet stone-like minerality. With building tannins, a fresh, focused texture, and a great finish, it's not for those looking for instant gratification, and I suspect it will need a solid decade or more of cellaring, but it will evolve for 50 years or more. It's a profound 2018.

• Drinking Window: 2026 - 2040
• Reviewer Name: Jeb Dunnuck
• Review Date: March 2021

A very polished and pure expression of Pauillac, but don't go to sleep on it. As charming and vibrant as the cassis, cherry preserve and blackberry paste flavors are, they have a latent saturated feel. And then there's a serious network of iron girders supporting it all, along with sweet tobacco, floral and worn cedar accents. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2030 through 2050. 13,300 cases made. — JM

• Drinking Window: 2030 - 2050
• Reviewer Name: James Molesworth
• Review Date: March 2021

Suave and sophisticated, the 2018 Pichon Baron is a real head-turner. Silky, polished tannins wrap around a core of inky dark red/purplish berry fruit. More than anything else, the 2018 impresses for its exceptional balance. All the elements are so impeccably balanced. That will make the 2018 easy to drink relatively early, although my preference would be to leave it in the cellar for the better part of the next decade. Rose petal, spice, blood orange and mint add brightness and perfume on the long, finely-knit finish.

• Drinking Window: 2030 - 2058
• Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni
• Review Date: March 2021

The 2018 Pichon-Longueville Baron is a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon and 22% Merlot, aged for 18 months in barriques, 80% new and 20% one year old. Production of the grand vin represents 50% of the harvest this year. Deep garnet-purple colored, the nose bursts from the glass with flamboyant scents of stewed black plums, crème de cassis and Black Forest cake, plus suggestions of Indian spices, unsmoked cigars, pencil shavings and espresso. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers impactful black fruit preserves and exotic spice layers, framed by plush tannins and a lively backbone, finishing long and spicy.

• Drinking Window: 2025 - 2050
• Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
• Review Date: March 2021

The 2018 Pichon-Baron is matured for 18 months in 80% new oak. It has retained its quite extroverted, almost audacious bouquet featuring copious scents of blackberry, blueberry and mint, though I might contend that it still needs to show more Pichon Baron DNA. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannins and firm grip, quite assertive and perhaps more austere than I expected in the mouth. Plenty of graphite here, much more than in barrel, and a foursquare finish. This 2018 Pichon-Baron will require 5–8 years in bottle because it is one of the more tannic Pauillacs of the vintage, but could also be one of the most rewarding for those with patience and a cool, damp cellar.

• Drinking Window: 2027 - 2055
• Reviewer Name: Neal Martin
• Review Date: March 2021