Better on the nose, with its smoky, tobacco, earthy, blackberry, forest floor and cigar box character, than on the medium bodied, crisp, bright, sharp, cassis and olive tapanade palate. The wine was produced from a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 15% Cabernet Franc. Tasted May 2015

Aromas of tobacco smoke, cedar, cherries, and black currants emerge from the moderately intense, complex bouquet. This wine has evolved nicely, revealing less austerity than it did last year in its medium-weight, delicate personality. Drink it over the next 15-16 years.

The 1998 Pichon Lalande has a fragrant bouquet with blackberry, wild hedgerow and cedar aromas, although personally I was expecting a little more fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannin, a more savory style of Pichon Lalande with sage, white pepper and a noticeable undergrowth note towards the dry, quite masculine finish. Perhaps I was hoping for more fruit intensity and vigour here at 20 years of age? Certainly this is no patch against the 1996 Pichon-Lalande. Tasted at the château.

55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, no Petit Verdot.
First wine showing some age at the rim, just a little pinky brick around the garnet. Intensely cedary nose. Leafy verging on green and a note of spring blossom, herbal. Dry, tight and somewhere between taut and elegant. Chalky tannins, fresh and moreish, lacks the richness of earlier vintages tasted but quite refined. Cassis leaf on the palate, classic cigar box.
Julia Harding MW - Dec 2009