#2 Wine Spectator Top 100 (2021 edition - 2018 vintage)
 
100-Points by Robert Parker.
The 2022 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande has turned out even better in bottle than I anticipated, bursting from the glass with aromas of cassis and blackberries mingled with scents of licorice, violets and pencil shavings. Full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's suave, seamless and complete, with faultless precision, pristine integration of tannin, controlled sweetness and a long, expansive finish. The 2022 manages to unite the sensuality that's the estate's calling card and the ripeness of the vintage on the one hand, with a sense of Pauillac classicism on the other, threading the needle to deliver one of the finest wines of the vintage and a benchmark Pichon Comtesse. 
Blend: 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc that spent 19 months in two-thirds new oak and one-third in once-used barrels.
 
99-Points by James Suckling.
What perfect aromas of blackcurrants, lead pencil, violets, blood oranges and blood. Some iron. Medium- to full-bodied, this has incredible tannins that are completely loaded and integrated, melting into the wine with such a glorious mouthfeel. The finish goes on and on, lightly austere in the most sophisticated way. Racy and rigorously focused.
 
99-Points by Decanter.
Shiny and striking, this delights from the first sip giving a burst of strawberry and citrus acidity before salty minerality comes in the form of chalky tannins, graphite, pencil lead and slate. Really quite mineral. It's sleek and classically styled, no overt ripeness of fruit although there's concentration in the frame and power that thrusts the flavours forward. Detailed and joyous, it's pent up with muscles and tension but where other wines are showcasing that brawn now, this also delivers a ton of juicy acidity and lift which makes this so joyful. I love it. 
 
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a highly regarded wine estate in the Pauillac appellation of the Haut-Médoc region of northern Bordeaux. of the most significant second growths in Pauillac, Bordeaux. Often shortened in common parlance to "Pichon-Lalande" or "Pichon Comtesse" (partly to differentiate it from neighbor, Château Pichon-Longueville Baron), the estate produces a regularly lauded, Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant grand vin.
Pichon-Lalande also neighbors first-growth powerhouse, Château Latour at the southern end of the Pauillac appellation. All three estates share something of a similar terroir and climate, which partly helps to explain the quality of the wine at Comtesse de Lalande – is sometimes referred to as "nearly first growth".
The Pichon-Lalande estate covers 85 hectares (210 acres) in both Pauillac and Saint-Julien. The Saint-Julien holding covers twelve hectares (30 acres) and although the estate has produced a simpled labeled Saint-Julien, this wine is now rarely encountered.
Five Bordeaux grapes are grown on the estate's vineyards, although the grand vin is historically dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot (with Cabernet Sauvignon making up 60 percent of the blend). Wines from Comtesse de Lalande are some of the more voluptuous to come from the Médoc due to the high proportion of Merlot in the wine.
However, the amount of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blends is increasing to lend more structure and backbone to future vintages. This will not decrease Merlot's place in the cuvée, but rather the amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
History and ownership
Orignally, Comtesse de Lalande was part of a larger property formally known as Château Pichon Longueville, owned by the Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville who died in 1850. Upon his death, his children Raoul and Virginie inherited half of the property each. Raoul's half became Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, while Virginie's became Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.
The estate was acquired by the Miailhe family (a prominent Bordeaux dynasty which initially established itself as wine brokers in the region but went on to own numerous estates and properties) in 1925. It remained in the family for much of the Twentieth Century but, from the 1980s to the 2000s, the estate was most associated with Miailhe heir May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, who ran the estate through this period of growth.
Lencquesaing's custodianship of the estate remains widely praised through this time although the château was eventually sold to Champagne Louis Roederer in 2007. Prior to the sale, Lencquesaing established the Glenelly wine estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa.