On a scorching May day our Bordeaux group convened at Bobby Van’s for a nose to nose Pichonfest. Luckily the AC worked well, and we had some cool 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 notes 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 and 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 was 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 the ‘90 Pichon Lalande, famously a Parker 79 pointer. And no one to my 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% what 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 objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.