2008 Château Pichon Lalande

The bilberry and cassis fruit is tinged with smoked toffee edging, a lovely gourmet touch balanced by black chocolate, crushed earth and fresh mint uplift on the finish. 2008 saw a cool August followed by a dry sunny September, and you feel this is the fruit character, which is dark and autumnal with blackberries, bilberries, hawthorn, enticing and very Pauillac yet a little surly still at this stage. Oak not perfectly integrated, with a good few years ahead of it before you can say for sure that all elements have slotted into place. Could be drunk but will show its terroir character more over the next decade. 3.7ph, harvest September 29 to October 14.

The 2008 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is a complex, elegant wine that offers pretty notes of blueberries, violets, plums, and flowers, with even a hint of menthol with time in the glass. Beautifully balanced, medium-bodied, and vibrant, with good acidity and moderate tannins, it shows the elegant, seamless style of the estate beautifully and can be drunk any time over the coming 20 years or more. The blend of the 2008 is 63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot that represent a selection of 38% of the total production.

Tasted blind. Some evolution evident at the rim. Round and winning. Polished and not exaggerated. Refined rather than concentrated. Not that long but a charmer. (JR)