Pichon Lalande: How this "Super Second" is winning against First Growths
Classified as an 1855 Second Growth in the famous 1855 Bordeaux Classification, Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande (commonly called Pichon Lalande), is one of the most prestigious estates in the Pauillac appellation of Bordeaux, widely considered as one of the "Super Seconds": estates whose quality often rivals First Growths.
The estate is particularly admired for combining Pauillac's classic power with unusual elegance and finesse, partly due to a historically higher proportion of Merlot than most Pauillac wines. The estate originated from the large Rauzan vineyard created by Pierre de Rauzan in the late 17th century. Through marriage, the property passed to the Pichon Longueville family and became one of Bordeaux's most important estates.
The Rise of Modern Pichon Lalande
The modern ascent of the estate was fundamentally catalyzed by the arrival of Champagne Louis Roederer, whose immediate and substantial capital investment provided the essential machinery for a new era. This infusion of resources funded an exhaustive, two-year soil-mapping and micro-climate study, granting the team an unprecedented understanding of their terroir. Building on this intelligence, Roederer launched a massive, multi-decade vineyard replanting program to replace underperforming vines, while concurrently commissioning a state-of-the-art, gravity-fed cellar designed specifically for the extreme precision of parcel-by-parcel vinification.
Winemaker Nicolas Glumineau’s tenure represents the definitive closing of the gap between the "Super Seconds" and the First Growths. Arriving in 2012 with an impeccable pedigree from Haut-Brion, Margaux, and Montrose, he immediately utilized this new infrastructure to push boundaries. By restricting the grand vin to only the finest expressions of the harvest and restructuring blocks to optimize soil pairing, he has amplified the density and structure of the estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon.
