Château Pichon Baron — Attraction in Lesparre-Médoc

Château Pichon Baron Wine Tasting — Pauillac, Bordeaux

Château Pichon Baron was one of the absolute highlights of my Bordeaux trip — and the very first stop on my journey. I knew I had to visit, no matter what.

For me, this place represents everything iconic about Pauillac: •It’s one of the most legendary names in the region. •Classified as a Second Growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification — a true mark of prestige and quality. •Known for wines that are powerful, elegant, and full of character. •And of course, the château itself is absolutely stunning — picturesque and full of charm.

I have to say upfront: I’m not a wine professional. I just love drinking wine and enjoying the moment. But what I appreciated deeply was how welcoming Pichon Baron is to visitors like me — no pretense, just pure passion and knowledge shared openly.

Our guide was warm, informative, and genuinely enthusiastic, walking us through everything from the vineyards and terroir to the fermentation and aging process. We even got to see bottles dating all the way back to 1881 — truly a walk through wine history.

And then came the tasting. I sampled four wines: •Les Tourelles de Longueville Pauillac 2018 •Les Griffons de Pichon Baron Pauillac 2018 •Château Pichon Baron 2018 •Château Pichon Baron 2017

Tasting these wines honestly blew my mind. Each glass told a different story, rich with depth and structure. It was my very first “gateway”into the world of Bordeaux, and it left me deeply impressed — even moved. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction.

I walked away feeling inspired, grateful, and already planning a return. No...

The best wine tasting I've ever been to in Bourdeaux. Thank you soo much.

Château Pichon-Longueville Baron, a leading Pauillac 2éme Cru Classé estate, is one of Bordeaux's most illustrious "super seconds". In 1987 it was bought by the AXAMillésimes Group, who also own Cantenac-Brown, Petit-Village, Suduiraut.

AXA built a state of the art cuverie and chai at Pichon-Longueville Baron, while, in 2000, Christian Seely took over from Jean-Michel Cazesas as general manager. Pichon-Longueville-Baron's 73-hectare vineyard (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc, runs adjacent to that of Château Latour and lies on deep gravel beds.

The Cabernet-dominated Pichon-Longueville Baron is a more muscular, tannic and full-bodied wine than that of its neighbour across the road, Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. The grand vin is Chateau Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville.The second wine is Les Tourelles de Longueville, introduced with the 1986 vintage. The best examples of Pichon-Longueville Baron have layer upon layer of unctuous, vanilla-scented, blackcurrant and cassis fruit, intermingled with cigar box and lead pencil shavings aromas. They require cellaring for at...

A sublime experience -- from beauty to (substantial) learning to testing / pushing taste buds with excellent wine all enriched by our excellent guide Clementine, who amicably navigated answering a (bizarre) range of questions in both French and English. Honestly, our group started the visit agreed that we'd likely not be buying yet more wine -- between the quality of the wines tasted and the quality of education from our guide, cases ended up in the cars.

Among so many interesting elements, beyond the family / Château history, it was very interesting to see and have explained things like:

how the (relatively) new facility was built with industrial engineering thinking in ways that makes work more efficient while improving production quality (and assuring consistency across production). the complex nature of wine barrels (quality, usage, management, life cycle) the laboratory's role in developing the optimum yeast for wine fermetation; ...

Having visited, over the years, dozens (or more) vineyards and châteaux, my time at Pichon Baron certainly was heads and shoulders above any other experience. Highly recommended.

PS: If showing up with an EV, be aware of the...