This bottle of 1985 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande was opened by Nicolas Glumineau at the château, so provenance is impeccable. Unsurprisingly, this is one of the best examples that I have encountered, much better than the one opened six months previously. The nose offers dark berry fruit again, cedar, iris flower and graphite—here, the Cabernet Sauvignon component is more expressive, more "alive." The palate is beautifully balanced, pliant and velvety in texture with black fruit and fluid tannins. A little more grip towards the finish makes it very harmonious, perhaps more luxuriant than I recall on any other bottle. Irresistible. Tasted at the château in April 2025. -- Neal Martin

The 1985 Pichon Lalande has a deep brick color. It offers up a tantalizing perfume of potpourri, Chinese five spice, and incense, followed by suggestions of Christmas puddling, dried cherries, cigar box, and dried mandarin peel. The medium-bodied palate is refreshing and lively with delicate, mature plum preserves and spicy flavors, supported by powdery tannins, finishing long and mineral-laced.

While I have been a big fan of the 1985 vintage in Bordeaux for many years and have written quite a bit about these wines in recent times, I had not tasted a bottle of the 1985 Pichon-Lalande since I cannot remember when. I sold this wine right out of the blocks in my merchant days and always liked it well enough, but in my formative years, I found it a bit too “weedy” and did not end up cellaring it for my own collection. I think this was the only vintage of Pichon-Lalande I did not buy for my cellar in that era, as I started laying in the wines with the 1981 vintage and bought them every year (even the 1984 and 1987) up through the 1989, before my buying habits (and my more limited cellar budget in those days) turned towards Burgundy. But, I skipped the 1985 and that was too bad, as the wine has aged quite beautifully and is now drinking with great style and grace. The bouquet is a superb blend of cassis, dark berries, coffee, cigar wrapper, a dollop of fresh herbs, gravel, black tea and toasty oak. On the palate the wine is pure, fullish and beautifully complex, with a good core of fruit, lovely soil signature, melted tannins and fine length and grip on the very classy finish. This is not a powerful vintage of Pichon, but it is an utterly complete one!

Fully mature, this wine shows some pink at the edge, a sweet nose of herb-tinged cherries and black currants intermixed with dusty notes and new oak. The wine is medium-bodied, elegant, very flattering, and perfumed. It does not have the weight, depth, or dimensions of the top vintages, but is quite seductive. - RP