1983 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, Pauillac 2ème Grand Cru Classé

One bottle available. A mature Pauillac to open, not to keep.

Pichon-Longueville Baron sits directly across the road from Château Latour on some of the best gravel in Pauillac. It is a Second Growth of the 1855 classification and today it is one of the most reliable names in the Médoc. The 1983 comes from before that was true, and you should know the difference before you buy it.

What the 1983 actually is

The estate went through a long thin stretch. Underinvested through the 1960s and 1970s, machine-harvested for much of it, and by most accounts making wine well below its rank. AXA Millesimes bought the property in 1987 and brought in Jean-Michel Cazes of Lynch-Bages, and everything changed from there. The 1983 sits four years before that turn.

Robert Parker, tasting it for the third edition of his Bordeaux book, gave 87 points and wrote that it was better structured than the 1982 but had become less interesting as it aged: dark ruby, a spicy cassis-and-herb bouquet, medium-bodied, plenty of tannin, maturing rapidly. Wine Spectator gave 85. The 1983 vintage itself was uneven, hot and dry in July then hot and wet in August with rot pressure, and Pauillac was one of the better performers rather than a standout.

What you are buying is a genuine forty-three-year-old Second Growth Pauillac at a mature-claret price, with one piece of history attached: 1983 was the first vintage of Les Tourelles de Longueville, the estate's second wine, which means it was also the first grand vin here to benefit from any real selection.

Where this bottle came from

We do not buy old Bordeaux on the open market. Bottles like this reach us through private collectors we know personally, people who bought long ago and cellared properly ever since. Every rare bottle is inspected in person before we take it, and it stays in temperature-controlled storage from the moment it enters our hands.

The details

• Producer: Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
• Appellation: Pauillac, Médoc, Bordeaux, France
• Classification: Deuxième Grand Cru Classé, 1855
• Vintage: 1983
• Alcohol: 13%
• Scores: 87 points Robert Parker · 85 points Wine Spectator
• Format: 750ml
• Drinking window: now. Fully mature and past its projected window.

Serving and pairing

Stand upright a day ahead. Decant off the sediment about an hour before serving at 62°F. Roast lamb, a simple steak, or hard cheese. Do not save it for a birthday two years out.

The estate

The property was split in 1850 into what became Pichon Baron and Pichon Comtesse de Lalande. The Pichon-Longueville family held this half until 1933, when the Bouteiller family bought it. AXA Millesimes acquired it in 1987, Jean-René Matignon arrived as technical director in 1985 and is still there, and Christian Seely has run it since 2000. The château itself, a turreted nineteenth-century fantasy built in 1851, is one of the most photographed buildings in the Médoc.

One bottle, shipped from our Florida cellar in protective packaging. Browse more rare and limited vintages.