Roederer Estates had owned Pichon Comtesse for three years prior to the 2009 vintage, having taken over in 2006, with Gildas d'Ollone as managing director and Thomas Do-Chi-Nam as technical director. Together, they created a stunning, lyrical 2009 that just begs to be savoured. It’s ripe and intense, rippling with juicy blackberry and blackcurrant fruit and touches of violet on the nose. A beautifully balanced wine. Read more at https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews/france/bordeaux/chateau-pichon-longueville-comtesse-de-lalande-pauillac-27769#5PLG4cxSyM17VzKI.99

Luscious and rich ruby colour, powerfully enticing aromatics, a ton of dark cassis and blueberry fruits, this is great quality, juicy with oyster shell salinity that pulses through the mid palate. Tobacco and campfire on the finish, this is approaching its drinking window but in no rush. Sylvie Cazes director at the time.

97+ Deep garnet colored, the 2009 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a little reticent to begin, slowly giving way to notions of warm black cherries, blackcurrant cordial, stewed plums and sautéed herbs with hints of damp soil, tobacco and beef drippings. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with tightly wound black fruit and earthy layers, framed by ripe, fine-grained tannins and lovely freshness making for a long, lively finish. Classic! - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

97+ A blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot but without any Cabernet Franc, the 2009 Pichon Lalande has a deep garnet-brick color. It charges out with vibrant notions of crème de cassis, blueberry pie, and redcurrant jelly, followed by flamboyant suggestions of dried roses, cardamom, fragrant earth, and menthol. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is rich and impactful, featuring fantastically plush tannins and seamless freshness, finishing with epic length and depth. Absolutely scrumptious right now, it has a good 20-25 years of cellaring potential left, and I suspect there is way more gravitas in the pipeline.

Sensuous, rich, opulent, concentrated, powerful, ripe, long, and intense, the velvet-drenched wine fills your palate with layers of dark red fruits. There are no hard edges. The wine is already so easy to drink, that it is impossible not to be seduced into finishing the bottle far too quickly. As good as this is, give it a few more years in the bottle, and it is going to be even better as it gains in secondary nuances and complexities. Drink from 2024-2050.

In the same qualitative ballpark as the 2010, if not a step up, the 2009 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande nevertheless offers more immediate pleasure and opulence, with a gorgeous perfume of blackcurrants, lead pencil, unsmoked tobacco, truffle, and spice box. A blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot, this full-bodied, round, mouth-filling Pauillac has sweet tannins, beautiful mid-palate depth, and a great finish. It needs an hour or two in a decant today to drink brilliantly and will unquestionably evolve gracefully for another 20-25 years.

75% Cabernet Sauvignon 20% Merlot and 5% Petite Verdot aged in 50% new oak. Dark red color with slight pink hues. The nose opens with rose petals mocha and roasted meats that linger as strawberries cassis currants and mint appear. Soft accents of leather and sweet oak emerge later. The palate is long displays robust tannins and has nice flavors but is lacking some of the complexity that great vintages of Pichon Lalande develop. Nevertheless this is still a showy wine that needs time. Give it 3-5 years and enjoy over the next two decades.

Served blind at the Southwold 2009 tasting. The Pichon Lalande '09 has a far more understated bouquet with black cherries, pencil shavings, cedar and mint - classic Pauillac in other words, but very intense and precise. The palate is understated on the entry. This is very elegant, refined, very Lafite-like in style with a harmonious, citrus fresh finish that is long and sensual.

The ripe red currant, blackberry and boysenberry fruit is layered with black licorice snap, fruitcake and plum sauce notes. Has the fleshier edge of the vintage but retains a solidly racy graphite spine through the finish. A step behind the '10 in density and energy, though hardly a slouch. -- Non-blind Pichon Lalande vertical (July 2014). Best from 2018 through 2035. - JM