THE STORY OF CHATEAU PICHON-LONGUEVILLE COMTESSE DE LALANDE

by | May 2, 2022 | NEWS AND INSIGHTS

The Chateau of Pauillac in the Medoc, has a name and a long history, dating back to 1686 when the Medoc areas between the ocean and the Gironde estuary had just been reclaimed.

Pierre de Mazur de Rauzan decided to establish his estate on the border between Pauillac and Saint Julien, where the soils are particularly poor and sandy and the ocean has a beneficial influence, with the sea breeze allowing the vines to grow disease-free.

At that time, the estate was already 80 hectares almost in a single block and had illustrious neighbours such as Chateau Latour.

In 1694, one of the daughters married Jacques Pichon Longueville, a well-known Bordeaux politician, and the estate took his name. After the land had been reapportioned several times due to inheritance and family disputes, one of Jacques’ three daughters, the Comtesse de Lalande, reunited the properties and restored the family estate to its former glory.

The estate remained firmly in the family until 1925 when, after the First World War, it passed into the hands of the Miailhe family, who took it to the highest level of recognition and managed it until 2006, when it was bought by the Roederer group, already famous for its Champagne House and many other estates in the Bordeaux region, America and South America.

In 2009, the Roederer group began the colossal task of replanting, investing and constructing a technological new wine cellar, all costing over 30 million euros.

By 2025, the entire estate will be converted to biodynamic farming to best preserve the plants and the land.

The particularity that makes this wine unmistakable is the unusual presence of high quantities of Merlot, a factor uncommon in Pauillac. This practice makes the wine particularly velvety and unmistakable.

It has always been considered a ‘Super Second’, i.e. a Deuxième cru classé, which did not achieve Premier cru classé status in the 1855 classification, but has always been comparable in quality to the great Chateau Latour, Mouton and Lafite.