Château Pichon Baron’s second wines, Les Griffons and Tourelles de Longueville are both devastatingly charming. But if it’s a preview of the Pauillac estate’s flagship that you’re after, Les Griffons takes the cake. A blend of 59% Cabernet-Sauvignon and 41% Merlot, it is the closest relative of the winery’s monstrously revered Grand Cru.
Energetic and downright powerful, this wine is marked by black fruit aromas and a spicy, woody character. It’s full-bodied with long, luscious tannins and a refined mineral edge. Excellent stuff. Don’t be tempted to dismiss this as “just” a second wine; it’s a superstar in its own right.
Pauillac is Bordeaux’s most acclaimed appellation, the only one with three Premier Cru properties: Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Mouton-Rothschild and Château Latour. These and other Pauillac chateaux produce robust, full-flavored and long-lived red wines made from Cabernet-based blends. Though winemaking techniques and microclimates vary throughout Pauillac, producing some variations in style, classic Pauillac wines have juicy flavours of blackcurrant and cedar, often with coffee, chocolate and graphite notes. Pauillac, part of the Médoc region on Bordeaux’s Left Bank, has gravelly and well-drained soils that force vines to grow long and strong roots. Struggling a bit for water, the vines produce grapes with high tannins and concentrated juices. Nearby rivers and the Atlantic Ocean modulate temperatures, preventing the grapes from ripening too quickly. Such grapes make powerful wines that may age and improve for decades. However, in Pauillac, as in other old-world wine regions, some winemakers are working to develop softer red wines that maintain the local wines’ traditional substance and flavours, but are more approachable immediately upon release.
