Destined to be one of the great vintages of Pichon Lalande, the wine is opulent, silky, fresh, full-bodied, and vibrant. The layers of perfectly black and dark red fruits coat your palate, ending with waves of sensuously textured fruit. This is going to be approachable in its youth, but it also has the stuff to age for decades. Drink from 2025-2055.

Lovely grilled and graphite notes right off the bat; this is big and muscular, and extremely Pauillac. There is grace here too, with raspberry purée, cassis, fig and blackberry fruits set against charcoal and fine tannins that quickly build up to suggest how well this will age. 1% Petit Verdot completes the blend. 60% new oak used. 13% press wine. 3.75pH, 88IPT – higher even than the 80IPT in 2016.

(98+ points) The 2018 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande is a monster of a wine with an almost Château Latour-like stature and structure, offering deep, backward, slightly reductive notes of blackcurrants, crushed stone, scorched earth, lead pencil shavings, and tobacco leaf. Based largely on Cabernet Sauvignon mixed with 23% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot, it's full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful on the palate, with masses of tannins, beautiful mid-palate density, and a great finish. As I've commented previously, the up-front, sexy style of the past (due to the larger Merlot content, I believe) has been replaced by a more regal, at times austere profile. Nevertheless, it's still its own wine and very Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in style. This 2018 is going to need 5-7 years of bottle age and will evolve for 40+ years.

This famous estate at the southern end of Pauillac has produced a powerful wine. Packed blackberry fruits, laced with acidity, are just starting out on a long journey along with the tannins. The wine's elegance is beautifully preserved within the structure. With considerable potential, the wine should not be drunk before 2027. - Roger Voss

Displays a seriously deep well of dark currant, blackberry paste and plum preserves fruit that needs some time to unwind fully, as it’s shrouded in warm earth, tobacco, singed cedar, sweet bay leaf and savory notes. There’s a ramrod of graphite through the entire wine too, adding to its strident, structured feel. A real brick house. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2030 through 2050. — J.M.

Aromas of blackberry, dried blueberry, gravel, mocha and cigar box. Light fresh-herb undertone. It’s full-bodied with firm, ultra fine tannins and fresh acidity. Focused and minerally with a long finish. Great length. Very tight and restrained at the moment. Wait until at least 2026 to take a look.

A gourmet vintage that I found a little atypical En Primeur but it has shown over subsequent tastings that this is in control and is going to age beautifully. Love the touches of fennel, liqurice and olive paste that sit alongside the tar, pencil lead, slate and cassis fruits. 50% new oak, 35hl/h yield because of the dry summer. A great wine that I am expecting to have the 2009 ability to surprise you with its finesse as the terroir comes through. Tasted at a chateau vertical July 2021, and again September 2021.

(97+ points) The 2018 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot with a pH of 3.85, an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 87 and 14% alcohol. The grand vin represents 50% of the crop this year. Deep garnet-purple colored, it charges out of the gate with bold scents of baked plums, ripe blackcurrants and wild blueberries, followed by hints of cedar chest, pencil lead, bouquet garni and charcuterie, plus a waft of lilacs. The medium-bodied palate is beautifully crafted with its seamless freshness and firm, grainy tannins supporting the compelling, finely knit black fruits and savory nuances, finishing on a lingering fragrant-earth note. This will need a good 5 years to come around and should easily cellar for another 30 years or more. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

(96+ points) The 2018 Pichon Comtesse is deep garnet-purple in color. It features fragrant notions of garrigue, star anise, clove oil, and forest floor, over a core of baked plums, blackcurrant preserves, and dried mulberries. Full-bodied, the palate has a solid backbone of grainy tannins with seamless freshness to frame the taut, muscular black fruits, finishing with a spicy lift. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown