1975 Château Pichon Lalande

The 1975 Pichon-Lalande has long been one of my favorite vintages from the decade, and this recent example attests that it is holding up. It has a beautiful bouquet of red berry fruit, roasted chestnut, leather and sage, utterly harmonious and showing commendable vitality after 43 years. The palate is medium-bodied with melted tannin. It is quite savory in style and the Merlot is fully in control, to the extent that it feels almost Right Bank in style. Maybe you could quibble about the slight metallic finish; nevertheless, if intent on buying a Left Bank from this vintage, I would probably come here. Tasted at a vertical tasting at the château.

This wine reached full maturity early and has taken on an increasing amount of amber/orange. It exhibits a dusty, herbaceous side as it sits in the glass. Although the wine is beginning to dry out, it is still an excellent claret, with classic, cedary, curranty fruit, combined with herbs and spices. Medium-bodied, with some sweetness on the attack, the wine narrows out and tastes more compressed and compact after it sits in the glass for 5-10 minutes. I would opt for drinking it over the next 5-6 years. For a 1975, Pichon-Lalande is doing a quick fade.

The 1975 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is one of the standout wines of that decade, though I had not encountered a bottle for several years. This one, direct from the château cellars, is initially rather muddled on the nose as if it doesn't know what to do. Black cherries, wild mint and hints of roasted chestnuts emerge with time. There's a bit more VA here than another bottle would show. The palate is sweet on the entry with plush black fruit and a suggestion of gingerbread in the background. With impressive density and grip, the 1975 coheres well with aeration. This is not the best example that I have drunk, but it does improve in the glass. Tasted at the château.