“This is the new taste for this estate: richly endowed while remaining elegant and suave. Certainly, there is great concentration here as well as rich black fruits. But they are given a sense of style and poise that will remain with this wine as it ages. Drink from 2026.”

“The 2015 Pichon Comtesse is a towering wine, as it has always been. Rich, sumptuous and totally hedonistic, the 2015 melds together intense fruit with structure. Far from an easygoing wine, the 2015 is going to need a number of years and will then drink well for several decades. Grilled herbs, smoke, new leather and licorice are some of the many notes that are layered into the dark-fleshed fruit for complexity. As good as the 2015 is today, it also has room to grow. Technical Director Nicolas Glumineau has done a tremendous job with the 2015s at Pichon Comtesse. The blend is 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot, aged 18 months in oak, 55% new.”

“The 2015 Réserve de la Comtesse is a superb second wine. Time in barrel and egg white fining have softened some of the tannins the 2015 showed as a barrel sample, but the fruit intensity, pedigree and class of the estate are all in the glass. Black cherry graphite, smoke and licorice are some of the many notes that infuse this potent, almost shockingly virile Comtesse. Quite simply, in 2015 Comtesse is equal to, or greater than, many Grand Vins. Don't miss it. The 2015 spent 12 months in oak, 25% new.”

“An incredibly luscious, gorgeously balanced and rich Réserve de la Comtesse. They picked right up until the light October rain, waiting until it had passed before continuing. Those extra few days have contributed to the particularly soft and silky quality of the tannins in the Cabernet Sauvignon, which have a gorgeous density to them. This is a serious wine that could stand up against many Médoc grand vins. The blend here is 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot.”

“Very solid, with lots of cassis bush and sweet tobacco notes adding texture to the core of crushed ripe raspberry, blackberry and plum fruit flavors. A licorice snap accent dances throughout, while a bolt of iron runs underneath. This is Pauillac. Best from 2020 through 2035.”