Founded in 1689 by Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan, the estate became the property of the Pichon Longueville family in 1694 through the marriage of Thérèse de Mazure de Rauzan to Baron Jacques de Pichon Longueville. It remained a single estate until 1850, when Baron Joseph decided to share it among his five children. At a time when wine-growing assets were generally managed by men, the three sisters pooled their share of the vineyard. The youngest daughter, Virginie de Pichon Longueville, Countess of Lalande by marriage, worked fervently to promote her wines and very soon gave her name to the estate that would become Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.
The Pichon Comtesse spirit has been perpetuated ever since through independence, determination and the pursuit of excellence. The estate has been headed by a succession of outstanding personalities who have instilled it with ambition and modernity. May-Eliane de Lencquesaing is one of these figures. The daughter of Edouard Miailhe, a Bordeaux merchant who bought the estate in 1925, she became its owner in 1978. She has since devoted herself to it entirely, travelling the world and giving the wine its international reputation and momentum.
Since 2007, Champagne Louis Roederer, a family-owned business led by Frédéric Rouzaud, has watched over the destiny of Pichon Comtesse. Under the leadership of Nicolas Glumineau, Managing Director, the teams continue their day-to-day work with the ambition of raising the profile of this Bordeaux Grand Cru Classé even further.
Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande has one of the finest terroirs in Pauillac, which is itself one of the world’s most famous wine-growing regions. The exceptional richness of this terroir is characterised not only by its poor and ungenerous soil, made up of gravelly outcrops on clay, but also by its microclimate, influenced on the one side by the Gironde estuary and on the other by the Atlantic Ocean.
The Pichon Comtesse vineyard, which covers 90 hectares, benefits fully from this environment. Each of the seventy plots, planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc or Petit Verdot, has been identified, listed and analysed so that the vines planted there are perfectly suited to the specific characteristics of the terroir. The vines are planted in proportions that leave nothing to chance; everything is done to ensure that here too, harmony reigns supreme.
On such very particular land, wine-growing must respect the ecosystem. Aware of their responsibility towards this heritage, the men and women of the estate follow an environmentally responsible approach in promoting biodiversity and taking special care of each plot in the vineyard. Here, Nature creates and Man interprets to enhance the remarkable quality of the grapes, through great wines.
With more than two hundred years of know-how, Pichon Comtesse has always followed its own path without giving way to passing trends. The desire to take the estate and its wines to the highest level is reflected in each of the actions of the men and women of the estate. Working, repeating and constantly starting over, with humility, is a way of perfecting oneself, of elevating oneself, to be part of the estate’s timeless vision.
This quest for excellence inspired the construction of a new vat room in 2013. Its every aspect – architecture, choice of materials, functionality – contributes to elegance, beauty and harmony. Using very advanced techniques, as well as ancestral know-how such as gravity flow to transfer grapes and wines, this efficient tool allows specific plot-by-plot vinification with gentle and precise extraction. The crafting process as a whole highlights each of the vineyard’s seventy plots, thereby expressing the diversity of this magnificent terroir.
The personality of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande’s wines is built up through blending, which creates wines that are at once complex and harmonious, deep and refined. Wines with a soul.
