Pichon Baron - Pauillac 2020

Vinous

96-96

byNeal Martinthe2/28/2025

The 2020 Pichon Baron has a delineated, slightly conservative but brilliantly focused bouquet that opens gloriously with time in the glass: black cherries, blueberry and cassis tinged with graphite. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent and juicy tannins that disguise the structure underneath. There's a real peacock's tail on this Pauillac, and it's a long-term prospect. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Alexandre Ma

98

byAlexandre Mathe4/18/2023

Wine Advocate

97

byWilliam Kelleythe4/6/2023

The brilliant 2020 Pichon-Longueville Baron offers up inviting aromas of sweet berries and cassis mingled with pipe tobacco, loamy soil, pencil shavings and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, its velvety attack segues into a concentrated mid-palate that's framed by rich, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, vibrant finish. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, it's a true classic that's a touch less demonstrative out of the gates than the sensual 2019, but which in the fullness of time will prove every bit as good.

Wine Spectator

97

byJames Molesworththe3/31/2023

This has a very large-scaled yet properly proportioned core of cassis, plum and blackberry fruit flavors that are remarkably pure and focused. Buried deep within is a sleek, vibrant iron spine that drives the finish as the fruit keeps pace. Extra savory, tobacco and cedar nuances fill out all the remaining available space. A towering wine, with a buttoned-up feel. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2030 through 2045. 12,404 cases made.

Jeb DUNNUCK

98

byJeb Dunnuckthe3/30/2023

The flagship 2020 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron is pure gold, a full-bodied, rich, powerful 2020 displaying the vintage's purity, focus, and structure front and center. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, its dense purple hue is followed by a mammoth-sized bouquet of cassis, blackberries, smoked earth, graphite, and cedar pencil. With ripe tannins, a seamless, layered mouthfeel, and one heck of a finish, it comes closest in my mind to the estate 2010, and I think is clearly in the same realm as the 1989, 1990, 2000, 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2019. It offers pleasure today, but it certainly warrants 7-8 years, a decade if possible, of bottle age and will have 40-50 years of overall longevity.

The Wine Cellar Insider

98

byJeff Levethe3/22/2023

With an intensity of color that matches the intensity you taste, and feel, here you find a wine that coats your palate with its multiple layers of rich, dark, deep, black, and dark red fruits coupled with smoke, tobacco, Cuban cigars, spice, dark chocolate, and burning oak embers. This incredible wine is perfectly poised on the corner of power, and intensity with an almost, endless, seamless, regal, and refined finish. This is clearly going to be one of the all-time great vintages of Pichon Baron. Drink from 2028-2065.

Alexandre Ma

98

byAlexandre Mathe3/15/2023

Vinous

98

byAntonio Gallonithe2/24/2023

The 2020 Pichon Baron is every bit as magnificent as it was en primeur. A wine of vertical intensity and explosive power, the 2020 offers up an exotic mix of dark red/black fruit, espresso, licorice, menthol, gravel and dried herbs. This potent, driving Pauillac needs time to come together. It marries the fruit intensity of a warm year with the driving energy of a cool year. The 2020 is a gorgeous Pichon Baron.

Vinous

97

byNeal Martinthe2/15/2023

As I found before, the 2020 Pichon Baron takes a while to open in the glass. Finally, it offers enticing blackberry and boysenberry fruit, peony and iris flower, hints of graphite and black truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannins, again, displaying outstanding symmetry and focus, fresh as a daisy with a strong and mineral-driven finish. Christian Seely and his team have overseen a splendid Pichon Baron for the ages. Blue-blooded Pauillac.

Jamessuckling.com

99

byJames Sucklingthe1/16/2023

Fabulous aromas of blackcurrant, blueberry, crushed stone, graphite and lead pencil. Some violets and other flowers, too. Full-bodied with incredibly encompassing tannins that are like the finest velvet in texture. The structure is superb, with so much tension and focus. Seamless. This could be the new 1990 or better. Try after 2028.

Yvesbeck.wine

99

byYves Beckthe1/5/2023

La précision affichée est époustouflante, presque déroutante, tant l'on retrouve les marqueurs qui ont fait de ce vin l'un des plus grands de Bordeaux ! Peut-être même de l'univers et au-delà, mais il faut rester sur terre, et comme il y est aussi, autant y rester. Un vin éblouissant dans son aboutissement, sa pertinence et, finalement, sa persistance, idéalement plébiscitée par une rafraîchissante et structurante acidité. Un grand vin de garde !

Wine Spectator

97

byJames Molesworththe11/30/2022

Newsletter Insider “Hot Wines” : Extra savory, tobacco and cedar nuances fill out all the remaining available space. A towering wine, with a buttoned-up feel.

Decanter.com

96

byJane Ansonthe6/16/2021

Best Pauillac Wines 2020 : Intense,concentrated, ripping with power while still delivering finesse. A muscular Pichon baron, layered with liquorice and chocolate shavings.
Unmistakably Pauillac and hugely Cabernet dominant...

Vinous

96-98

byAntonio Gallonithe6/1/2021

The 2020 Pichon Baron is utterly breathtaking, and also one of the very best young vintages I have tasted here. An exotic mélange of red cherry, mint, rose petal and blood orange comes alive in the glass. More than anything, though, the Pichon-Baron possesses remarkable energy and vibrancy that builds to an intense, beautifully focused finish. This is hands down one of the most impressive wines of 2020. Superb.

Jeb DUNNUCK

96-98

byJeb Dunnuckthe5/28/2021

The inky hued 2020 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron checks in as a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot that spent 18 months in 70% new barrels. It's a dense, rich, powerful 2020 offering loads of pure cassis and almost blue fruits as well as full-bodied richness, a round, lush, incredibly sexy texture, sweet tannins, and ample classic Pauillac lead pencil, tobacco, and violet aromas and flavors. It's unquestionably in the same ballpark as the 2015, 2016, and 2018, and given its sweet tannins and beautifully integrated acidity, it should have some up-front appeal as well, yet still age at a glacier pace.

Yvesbeck.wine

98-100

byYves Beckthe5/27/2021

76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot
Pourpre intense. Quelle belle et complexe intensité olfactive ! Ici tous les éléments composants un grand vin de Pauillac sont présents ; le terroir au travers de classiques nuances de graphite et de cèdre, puis le fruit avec des nuances de baies noires et la fraîcheur au travers de menthe et de bois de réglisse. En bouche l'attaque est fine, friande et précise.
Très belle résolution de pixel ! Les tannins se révèlent lentement et gagnent en intensité et puissance le long du palais. La finale est fruitée, élégante et persistante. Une très belle réussite à Pichon Baron qui va certainement s'inscrire parmi les grands vins de la propriété. 2027-2060 98-100/100

Vinous

95-97

byNeal Martinthe5/27/2021

The 2020 Pichon Baron underwent an early picking with relatively low yields. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, it has a very tight nose at first that demands 15–20 minute coaxing in the glass. It eventually reveals enticing blackberries, blueberries and hints of balsamic and undergrowth, all very precise; crushed rock scents surface with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, fine-grained tannins and touches of hoisin toward a dense but structured finish of unerring symmetry. Tasted from test tube sample and regular 75cl bottle.

Decanter.com

96

byJane Ansonthe5/25/2021

ntense, concentrated, rippling with power while still delivering finesse. A muscular Pichon Baron, layered with liquorice and chocolate shavings. Unmistakably Pauillac, and hugely Cabernet dominant, with savoury spice notes of grilled cumin and the same muscular, saline-backed tannins that you find in Les Griffons, just here with more definition and depth. 70% new oak for 18 months, 48% of overall production. Harvest September 14 to 30. Yields on the old vines here just above 30hl/ha.

The Wine Cellar Insider

97-99

byJeff Levethe5/21/2021

Richly colored with purple around the edges the wine struts its creme de cassis, tobacco, cigar box, earthy, forest floor and peppery spice nose with ease. On the palate the wine is round, polished, sweet, fresh, ripe, long and elegant. This is a refined, classic, potentially forward vintage of Pichon Baron that should start showing quite well with just a decade of aging. The wine was made from blending 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, 13.6% ABV. Yields were only 33 hectoliters per hectare. 97-99

Wine Advocate

95-97

byLisa Perrotti-Brownthe5/20/2021

The 2020 Pichon-Longueville Baron is a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot aging for an estimated 18 months in French oak barrels, 70% new. The production of the grand vin represents 48% of the harvest this year. Opaque purple-black in color, it comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notions of blackberry pie, preserved plums and crème de cassis, plus suggestions of Chinese five spice, chocolate mint, graphite and cedar chest with a touch of violets. The medium-bodied palate is built like a brick house, featuring firm, ripe, grainy tannins and bold freshness to support the taut, muscular black fruits, finishing long and spicy.

Le Point

17,5

byJacques Dupontthe5/20/2021

... Bouche ample, géréneuse, tanins doux, frais, longs, finale relevée, très persistant, délicieux et sérieux en même temps.  

Anthocyanes

97-99

byYohan Castaingthe5/11/2021

Café, mure, fruits noirs, légèrement moka, épices pour un bouquet d'une grande pureté et d'une complexité folle. Quelle fraicheur ! Bouche dense, parfaitement ciselée, très agréable avec une puissance totalement contenue dans une texture cristalline, fruitée et des tanins structurants. Un Pichon Baron sur des rails, très frais avec une allonge remarquable. Une très belle bouteille. Un millésime qui convient parfaitement à Pichon Baron.

Bernard Burtschy

96-98

byBernard Burtschythe5/10/2021

[…] Une très grande réussite avec un vin de très longue garde.

Falstaff

95-97

byPeter Moserthe5/10/2021

Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, opaker Kern, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Mit süßen Gewürzen unterlegte reife dunkle Kirschenfrucht, zart nach Cassis und Lakritze, ein Hauch von Nougat und Vanille, feiner Edelholztouch, sehr einladendes Bukett. Saftig, feine rote Waldbeeren, aber auch Heidelbeeren, frisch strukturiert, seidige, tragende Tannine, wirkt leichtfüssig, salzige Mineralität, bleibt lange haften, verfügt über eine fasziniernde Frische, ein sicheres Zukunftsversprechen.

My Bettane + Desseauve

96

by Bettane & Desseauvethe5/7/2021

Alexandre Ma

98-99

byAlexandre Mathe5/3/2021

What impresses me the most is how Pichon Baron 2020 explains gentleness from a hot and dry vintage. Absolutely extraordinary.

Jamessuckling.com

97-98

byJames Sucklingthe4/23/2021

This young Bordeaux is totally seamless with fine, velvet-like tannins that are integrated and refined. Underlying freshness and verve. It’s full-bodied, linear and long with a compact palate.