1964 Château Pichon Longueville Comtésse de Lalande

Though I have tasted dozens of Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande vintages, the 1964 is one that has escaped my palate…until now. It is not a renowned vintage for the Left Bank due to October rains, and this is borne out in this bottle. It's pretty perfumed with iodine and blackberry. Part of me thinks this was heavily chaptalized. The palate is surprisingly soft and plush, though in a slightly ersatz way, very Merlot-driven with a simplistic finish. Given its age, this is actually not a bad performance, though, on this occasion, it is easily surpassed by 1959, as you would expect. Tasted at Koala's Bordeaux dinner in Hong Kong.