Michel Bettane and Thierry Desseauve: The samples we tasted here and there were pretty uneven. But our overall findings indicate a wine with a very appealing personality, though not as robust or fleshy as its immediate neighbors. This is partly due to the unusually high Merlot component in this year’s wine, but mainly because the blend itself is still too disjointed at this stage. However, what the wine lacks in obvious harmony it makes up for in complexity and fine-grained tannins. More of a wine for lovers of the old-style Pichon Lalande than those who favored the move to more Cabernet. 17

Michael Schuster: Fine, scented, gently minerally and persistent nose; elegantly balanced, ripe-fruited, moderately concentrated wine, with a very fine tannin; a pure, subtle, sweet core of fruit, fragrant, subtly minerally, long in the mouth, and with a delicious persistence of both fruit and perfume. Fine, understated, long-term Pichon Lalande, typically a more feminine expression of Pauillac than the Baron. 2020–35. 17/17.5