Pichon-Longueville-Baron Pauillac 2020

99 points La Revue du Vin de France: "As for Pichon [2020]... What a wine! Let's start with the finish, interminable and saline, velvety, with notes of fresh fruit and melted, tonic acidity. The mid-palate? Full, ample, fleshy and absolutely delicious, with fruit full of sparkle and smoothness. (2024)"

99 points James Suckling: "Fabulous aromas of blackcurrant, blueberry, crushed stone, graphite and lead pencil. Some violets and other flowers, too. Full-bodied with incredibly encompassing tannins that are like the finest velvet in texture. The structure is superb, with so much tension and focus. Seamless. This could be the new 1990 or better. Try after 2028. (12/31/22)"

98+ points Jeb Dunnuck: "The flagship 2020 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron is pure gold, a full-bodied, rich, powerful 2020 displaying the vintage's purity, focus, and structure front and center. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, its dense purple hue is followed by a mammoth-sized bouquet of cassis, blackberries, smoked earth, graphite, and cedar pencil. With ripe tannins, a seamless, layered mouthfeel, and one heck of a finish, it comes closest in my mind to the estate 2010, and I think is clearly in the same realm as the 1989, 1990, 2000, 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2019. It offers pleasure today, but it certainly warrants 7-8 years, a decade if possible, of bottle age and will have 40-50 years of overall longevity. Drink: 2030-2070. (3/29/23)"

98 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous): "The 2020 Pichon Baron is every bit as magnificent as it was en primeur. A wine of vertical intensity and explosive power, the 2020 offers up an exotic mix of dark red/black fruit, espresso, licorice, menthol, gravel and dried herbs. This potent, driving Pauillac needs time to come together. It marries the fruit intensity of a warm year with the driving energy of a cool year. The 2020 is a gorgeous Pichon Baron. Drink: 2028-2050. (Feb 2023)"

98 points Georgina Hindle (Decanter): "Gentle and delicately aromatic but rich too, full of coffee, mocha, dark chocolate, caramel and medicinal herbs - mint and aniseed with a combination of red, blue and black berry fruits. Lovely density and weight on the palate, really very tannic but wide with an aerated effect so it doesn't feel at all heavy with a bright juiciness and extremely long length. The tannins make the first impression with a velvet texture and chalky minerality but it’s clean and the fruit has a crystalline purity that gives a sleek and direct overall impression. Generous, elegant and refined yet still not showing its best. Drinking Window: 2029-2058. (1/3/23)"

98 points/'Cellar Selection,' Wine Enthusiast): "Made with a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine offers dark tannins that give density and massive black fruits. With a magnificent combination of dark fruits and rich structure, it is set for long-term aging. Drink from 2028. Alcohol 14%. (Apr 2023)"

98 points Jeff Leve (The Wine Cellar Insider): "With an intensity of color that matches the intensity you taste, and feel, here you find a wine that coats your palate with its multiple layers of rich, dark, deep, black, and dark red fruits coupled with smoke, tobacco, Cuban cigars, spice, dark chocolate, and burning oak embers. This incredible wine is perfectly poised on the corner of power, and intensity with an almost, endless, seamless, regal, and refined finish. This is clearly going to be one of the all-time great vintages of Pichon Baron. Drink from 2028-2065. (Mar 2023)"

97 points William Kelley (Wine Advocate): "The brilliant 2020 Pichon-Longueville Baron offers up inviting aromas of sweet berries and cassis mingled with pipe tobacco, loamy soil, pencil shavings and licorice. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, its velvety attack segues into a concentrated mid-palate that's framed by rich, powdery tannins, concluding with a long, vibrant finish. A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, it's a true classic that's a touch less demonstrative out of the gates than the sensual 2019, but which in the fullness of time will prove every bit as good. Drink 2030-2065. (4/6/23)"

97 points Neal Martin (Vinous): "As I found before, the 2020 Pichon Baron takes a while to open in the glass. Finally, it offers enticing blackberry and boysenberry fruit, peony and iris flower, hints of graphite and black truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grain tannins, again, displaying outstanding symmetry and focus, fresh as a daisy with a strong and mineral-driven finish. Christian Seely and his team have overseen a splendid Pichon Baron for the ages. Blue-blooded Pauillac. Drink: 2028-2050. (Feb 2023)"

97 points Lisa Perrotti-Brown (The Wine Independent): "A blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, the 2020 Pichon Baron is deep garnet-purple in color. It gallops out of the glass with powerful notes of creme de cassis, blackberry pie, and licorice, followed by suggestions of rose petals, Indian spices, and cedar chest with a touch of mocha. The medium-bodied palate is elegant and fresh with fine-grained tannins supporting the bright black fruits, finishing long and perfumed. Alcohol 14%. Drink: 2028-2065. (3/12/23)"

97 points/'#8 Top 100 Wines of 2023,' Wine Spectator: "This has a very large-scaled yet properly proportioned core of cassis, plum and blackberry fruit flavors that are remarkably pure and focused. Buried deep within is a sleek, vibrant iron spine that drives the finish as the fruit keeps pace. Extra savory, tobacco and cedar nuances fill out all the remaining available space. A towering wine, with a buttoned-up feel. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2030 through 2045. (3/31/23)"

97 points Chris Kissack (Winedoctor): "This has a gorgeous nose, all smoky curranty fruits, fragranced with rose petals, but overall it is savoury, dark and convincing. The palate is just divine, as dark and brooding as the nose suggests, but with a richly polished and svelte texture, built around a frame of sweet tannins and fresh acidity. It also seeks to impress with seams of bright minerality, wrapped around the tannic grip, a stance it maintains through the middle, lifted by fragrant matchsticky nuances. It finishes with a huge flourish of firm and tightly knit tannins. What a wine! If there was ever a vintage that Christian Seely and the newly appointed technical director Pierre Montégut should put forward as evidence of their super-second status, then surely it is this one. A fabulous Pichon-Baron here – give it time because this will be truly great. The alcohol is 13.7%, a reflection of the correct maturity of Cabernet Sauvignon in this vintage. Tasted twice, in London and Bordeaux. (Dec 2022)"

97 points Bettane & Desseauve Guide (2024).