1982 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2eme Cru Classe, Pauillac 1x750ml

Robert Parker 100

While bottles that have been traded or traveled extensively are beginning to tire, I was fortunate to buy a case of the 1982 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande from a cold cellar in Alsace where it had remained unmoved since release. Given impeccable storage such as this, the wine remains simply remarkable and numbers one of the vintage’s greatest achievements. Soaring from the glass with aromas of cassis and blackberries mingled with hints of cigar wrapper, dark chocolate, licorice and violets, it’s medium to full-bodied, broad and velvety, with a sensual and enveloping core of fruit, rich but melted tannins and a long, resonant finish. Seamless and complete, I’d choose a pristine bottle of the 1982 Pichon Lalande over any of the Pauillac first growths, and I’m trying to ration my remaining half-dozen bottles without much success. [William Kelley, 25/12/2021]

Anticipated maturity: 2002-2035

Vinous 97

The 1982 Pichon-Lalande has a very pure bouquet, sensual and beautifully defined, featuring blackberry and hints of graphite, and later crushed violet, so that the aromatics are almost Margaux-like. The palate is medium-bodied with a slightly edgy, balsamic-tinged entry. There is great depth, focus and power here, though in recent encounters I find the secondary aromas more prominent, and the wine no longer possesses the flamboyance that it demonstrated a decade ago. Hints of tar and pencil shaving line the persistent finish. This remains a great wine, and yet several bottles in the last 24 months suggest that it is no longer the perfect wine that it clearly was in the late 1990s. Tasted at a vertical tasting at the chateau. [Neal Martin, 20/08/2019]

Anticipated maturity: 2019-2045