1996 Pichon Baron

Pichon Longueville Baron's 1996 has turned out to be even better than I thought from cask. The high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend (about 80%) resulted in a wine that has put on weight in the bottle. An opaque purple color is accompanied by beautiful aromas of tobacco, new saddle leather, roasted coffee, and cassis. It is dense, medium to full-bodied, and backward, with moderately high tannin, but plenty of sweet fruit, glycerin, and extract to balance out the wine's structure. This well-endowed, classic Pauillac should be at its finest between 2006-2022.|| Wine Advocate.April, 1999

Good full ruby-red. Roasted plum, leather and smoked nuts on the nose. Silky and layered in the mouth. Sweet and suave, with a complicating mineral quality. Suggests solid extract but ultimately a wine of very good rather than outstanding intensity. Finishes with fine tannins and persistent, slow-building flavor. Fleshier and more pliant than the '98. May 1999, www.vinous.com

Served with Pichon Lalande 1996 at the Vintners' Company's International Wine Trade Dinner. The wines kept changing in the glass - as did my preference. But here's what I wrote initially. Lead-pencil nose but very slightly scrawny and taut initially. Not especially sweet nor generous but fine-boned and correct. A medium-weight classic that fell away slightly on the finish. Aug 2015, www.jancisrobinson.com, Drink: 2010-2025