Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Pierre de Rauzan founded the vineyard in 1689. His daughter Thérèse received the estate as a dowry when she married Jacques de Pichon Longueville, giving the property its name. Over 70 years, Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville built it into a 50-hectare estate. On the eve of his death in 1850 he divided it among his five children: his daughter Virginie, wife of the Comte de Lalande, and her sisters inherited 30 hectares, and Virginie built the château that bears her name. In 1855 the estate was ranked a Second Classified Growth in the imperial classification commissioned by Napoleon III for the Paris Universal Exhibition. The Miailhe family era began in 1925. May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, daughter of Edouard Miailhe, became owner and general manager in 1978 and expanded the vineyard from 40 to 89 hectares. In January 2007 she sold the estate to Champagne Louis Roederer, a family company managed by Frédéric Rouzaud, the third family to own it in three centuries.

• Founded 1689 by Pierre de Rauzan; named through Thérèse's marriage to Jacques de Pichon Longueville; Pichon Longueville family ownership from 1694
• 1850: estate divided on Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville's death; Virginie, Comtesse de Lalande, and her sisters took 30 hectares
• 1855: ranked a Second Classified Growth in Napoleon III's imperial classification
• 1925: Miailhe family era begins; 1978: May-Eliane de Lencquesaing becomes owner and general manager; 2007: sold to Champagne Louis Roederer (Frédéric Rouzaud)

May-Eliane de Lencquesaing expanded Pichon Comtesse from 40 to 89 hectares of vines and sold the estate to the owners of Roederer Champagne in January 2007. Frédéric Rouzaud, Owner and CEO of Champagne Louis Roederer, describes the wine as "a precious stone that we keep on sculpting to perfection, and to give the people who love these wines an experience that will leave them starry-eyed with a genuine physical sensation". Under the new ownership, Sylvie Cazes was named director in February 2011. Nicolas Glumineau, who had spent five years at Château Montrose after earlier posts at Haut-Brion and Margaux, replaced her in 2012 and has led the estate since, now as General Manager and Winemaker. "Pichon Comtesse has always had this distinctive character: a wine in the Pauillac appellation with a unique, expressive character", Glumineau says.

• May-Eliane de Lencquesaing: owner and general manager 1978 to 2007; expanded the vineyard from 40 to 89 hectares
• Sold the estate to the owners of Roederer Champagne in January 2007
• Sylvie Cazes named director February 2011; replaced in 2012 by Nicolas Glumineau, previously five years at Château Montrose and earlier at Haut-Brion and Margaux
• Nicolas Glumineau is now titled General Manager and Winemaker

Pichon Comtesse has 102 hectares under vine in the southern part of the Pauillac appellation, a stone's throw from the Gironde Estuary, in over 100 vineyard plots. The soils are poor, light and well drained: gravel rises over clay subsoil, left by the slow drop in water levels during the Quaternary period. Cabernet Sauvignon makes up 70% of the area under vine, alongside Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Eleven hectares of the vineyard lie in the neighboring Saint-Julien commune; some of this wine was once labelled AOC Saint-Julien and some AOC Pauillac, until the owner won the right in the 1960s to call all of it Pauillac. In April 2017, when sub-zero temperatures struck the Bordeaux vineyards, the vines close to the estuary escaped spring frost, protected by the river. The 2025 season ran 96 days from flowering to harvest; the last plot was picked on 23 September, and average alcohol after fermentation was 13.4%.

• 102 hectares under vine in southern Pauillac, over 100 plots, near the Gironde Estuary
• Cabernet Sauvignon (70% of area under vine), Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot on gravel-over-clay soils
• 11 hectares of the vineyard lie in the Saint-Julien commune; the right to label all the wine AOC Pauillac dates from the 1960s
• 2025 harvest: 96 days flowering to harvest, concluded 23 September, average 13.4% ABV

The château is neoclassical, a style the estate calls "the epitome of harmony and understated elegance". Its more recent reconstructions use stone, wood and glass. "I wanted to keep glass as the central theme at Pichon Comtesse. This shower of light bulbs has become an emblem. It is the collective work of father and son", says architect Philippe Ducos. The preserved façade of the former vat room and the entrance to a new atrium link the estate's past and present. A 2012 renovation, with a budget estimated at more than 15 million euros and designed by Ducos and Alexandre Rougier, created a new triple-tiered gravity-flow cellar for parcel-by-parcel vinification; the work was finished in time for the 2013 harvest. Since 2010, as part of restructuring its vineyards, the estate has favored biodiversity, planting trees and native hedgerows and installing beehives, and it holds the highest level of environmental certification, HVE4. In 2021 it launched a conversion to organic farming across the whole vineyard. "Human intervention plays a key role in terroir. No people, no wine", says Stéphanie Danglade, Oenologist and QHSE Manager.

• 2012 renovation, estimated budget over 15 million euros, designed by Philippe Ducos and Alexandre Rougier; new triple-tiered gravity-flow cellar finished for the 2013 harvest
• Biodiversity measures (trees, native hedgerows, beehives) since 2010; highest environmental certification level, HVE4
• Conversion to organic farming launched across the whole vineyard in 2021
• Wine sold in over 80 countries worldwide through the traditional Bordeaux estate-broker-négociant trade

The Grand Vin ages for an average of 18 months in 50% new French oak, and the estate produces up to 15,000 cases a year on average. A second wine has been made from time to time as far back as 1874, making Pichon Comtesse one of the first Bordeaux estates with a true second wine; as Réserve de la Comtesse it became permanent in 1973, and it was renamed Pichon Comtesse Réserve from the 2019 vintage. Jeff Leve of The Wine Cellar Insider scored the 2016 a perfect 100 points and called it "a future legendary Bordeaux", with "volume, intensity, purity of fruit, silky, polished, cashmere-tannins, and a sensuality in the seamless finish". Leve also wrote that under Nicolas Glumineau, "starting with the 2016 vintage, Pichon Lalande has never produced better wines in the history of the estate!" The 2025 Grand Vin blends 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc, from the earliest harvest start in the estate's history. Leve found "cigar wrappers, blackberries, cocoa, cassis, chocolate, black cherries, and gentle spices in the aromas". His profile lists dark berry fruit, truffle, cassis and cedar, with pure silk and velvet textures, as hallmarks of the style, and names 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2000, 1996, 1995, 1989, 1986, 1985, 1983, 1978 and 1982 as the estate's best vintages.

• Grand Vin: average 18 months in 50% new French oak; up to 15,000 cases a year on average
• Second wine Réserve de la Comtesse, permanent since 1973; renamed Pichon Comtesse Réserve from the 2019 vintage
• 2016 scored a perfect 100 points by Jeff Leve of The Wine Cellar Insider, who wrote that the estate has never made better wines than from 2016 on
• Style hallmarks in Leve's notes: dark berry fruit, truffle, cassis, cedar, silk and velvet textures

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en, https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en/civilisation/langue, https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en/civilisation/territoire, https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en/civilisation/architecture, https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en/civilisation/valeurs, https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en/civilisation/technique, https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en/civilisation/vin, https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en/millesime, https://www.pichon-comtesse.com/en/contact. Secondary sources: Decanter (Jane Anson, 8 May 2013), https://www.decanterchina.com/en/knowledge/producers/chateau-pichon-longueville-comtesse-de-lalande; The Wine Cellar Insider (Jeff Leve), https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/bordeaux-wine-producer-profiles/bordeaux/pauillac/pichon-comtesse-de-lalande/. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs (see conflicts.json).