Jean-Rene Matignon had been the winemaker for 10 years at this point and has made a brilliant wine that took its time to come around but is tasting delicious right now, exceptionally enjoyable and enticing. Supple tannins, plenty of grilled cedar and tobacco leaf, plump-textured cassis and blackberry brambled fruits, still fairly backward and young, just very much a classic Pauillac that has poise and lift. A dark horse, not seen as impressive as Comtesse in its youth, but now flexing its muscles.
Tasted by Jane Anson (at Bordeaux, 04 Jan 2021)
Part of Anson: The brilliance of 1996 Pauillac wines

Jean-Rene Matignon had been the winemaker for 10 years at this point and has made a brilliant wine that took its time to come around but is tasting delicious right now, exceptionally enjoyable and enticing. Supple tannins, plenty of grilled cedar and tobacco leaf, plump-textured cassis and blackberry brambled fruits, still fairly backward and young, just very much a classic Pauillac that has poise and lift. A dark horse, not seen as impressive as Comtesse in its youth, but now flexing its muscles.

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A fresh, lifted, cedary nose with excellent definition. Reserved, understated but classy. The full-bodied palate is quite toasty but fresh with good delineation. Blackberry, tar, cedar and just a faint touch of white pepper. Harmonious and focused. Very persistent finish. Excellent. Tasted September 2006.

The 1996 Pichon-Longueville Baron is beginning to drink beautifully. Unwinding in the decanter and glass with aromas of cassis, pencil shavings, black truffles, burning embers and loamy soil, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and seamless, with an attractive core of fruit that's framed by powdery tannins and succulent acids, concluding with a long, blood orange-inflected finish. While it can't match what this château achieved in 1989 and 1990, it's showing very well today.

Healthy red-ruby color. Cassis, minerals, cedar and a hint of molasses on the nose. Dense and delineated, with a lovely restrained sweetness. Begins slowly and really builds through the long finish. Finer than the Lynch-Bages, and very Pauillac.

Pichon Longueville Baron's 1996 has turned out to be even better than I thought from cask. The high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend (about 80%) resulted in a wine that has put on weight in the bottle. An opaque purple color is accompanied by beautiful aromas of tobacco, new saddle leather, roasted coffee, and cassis. It is dense, medium to full-bodied, and backward, with moderately high tannin, but plenty of sweet fruit, glycerin, and extract to balance out the wine's structure. This well-endowed, classic Pauillac should be at its finest between 2006-2022.

Robert Parker (Wine Advocate #122, Apr 1999)

Served with Pichon Lalande 1996 at the Vintners' Company's International Wine Trade Dinner. The wines kept changing in the glass – as did my preference. But here's what I wrote initially. Lead-pencil nose but very slightly scrawny and taut initially. Not especially sweet nor generous but fine-boned and correct. A medium-weight classic that fell away slightly on the finish. (JR)