Château Pichon Longueville Baron or Château Longueville au Baron de Pichon-Longueville (commonly referred to as Pichon Baron) is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

in the

Pauillac Pauillac (; oc, Paulhac) is a municipality in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The city is mid-way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, along the Gironde, the largest estuary in western Europe. Popul ...

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

of the

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Château Pichon Longueville Baron is also the name of the red

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of fifteen ''Deuxièmes Crus'' (Second Growths) in the original

Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordeaux wines that were to be on display for visitors from ...

History

Château Pichon Baron was once part of a larger estate, owned by

Pierre de Rauzan Pierre de Rauzan, also known as Pierre de Mesures de Rauzan, was a Bordeaux wine merchant. He served as estate manager of Château Latour. In the 1690s he began buying land in the Médoc near the village of Pauillac. Legacy Upon the marriage of h ...

, along with Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. In 1850 the estate was divided into the two current Pichon estates. In 1987 the estate was purchased by French insurance company

AXA Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

, who immediately appointed

Jean-Michel Cazes Jean-Michel Cazes (born 25 March 1935, in Bordeaux) is a French winemaker and insurance executive. He managed the wine holdings of AXA Millésimes until 2000, the family insurance agency, and the Cazes family estates until 2006. He is the son o ...

Château Lynch-Bages Château Lynch-Bages is a winery in the Pauillac appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. Château Lynch-Bages is also the name of the red wine produced by this property. The wine produced here was classified as one of eighteen ''Cinquièmes ...

as administrator. The property is currently managed by Englishman Christian Seely. H. Johnson & J. Robinson (2005). ''The World Atlas of Wine'', p. 90 Mitchell Beazley Publishing,

Vineyard

Château Pichon Baron's 73 hectares are planted with

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

(60%),

Merlot Merlot is a dark blue–colored wine grape variety, that is used as both a blending grape and for varietal wines. The name ''Merlot'' is thought to be a diminutive of ''merle'', the French name for the blackbird, probably a reference to the ...

(35%),

Cabernet Franc Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varieties worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone, as in the Loire's Chinon. In addition to being us ...

(4%) and

Petit Verdot Petit Verdot is a variety of red wine grape, principally used in classic Bordeaux blends. It ripens much later than the other varieties in Bordeaux, often too late, so it fell out of favour in its home region. When it does ripen it adds tannin, c ...

(1%). The planting density is 9 000 vines per hectare using a double Guyot training and the average age of the vines is 30 years. The yield is typically less than 40 hectoliter per hectare.PichonLongueville.com: Fiche technique
(technical data sheet) The vineyard is situated at the southern end of the commune of Pauillac near border with the

Saint-Julien-Beychevelle Saint-Julien-Beychevelle (; oc-gsc, Sent Julian Vaisherèla) is a commune on the left bank of the Garonne estuary in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Population Wine The village lies northwest of Bordeau ...

appellation.

Wine

Grapes are harvested and sorted by hand, and then

macerated Maceration is the process of preparing foods through the softening or breaking into pieces using a liquid. Raw, dried or preserved fruit or vegetables are soaked in a liquid to soften the food, or absorb the flavor of the liquid into the food. I ...

for 20-30 days, and

fermented Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food ...

at 28-32 °C in temperature controlled stainless steel vats of varying sizes. The wine is transferred into oak barrels for aging after finishing its

malolactic fermentation Malolactic conversion (also known as malolactic fermentation or MLF) is a process in winemaking in which tart-tasting malic acid, naturally present in grape must, is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. Malolactic fermentation is most often p ...

. The estate also produces a second wine, Les Tourelles de Longueville.

References

External links

Château Pichon Longueville Baron official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pichon Longueville Baron, Chateau Bordeaux wine producers Châteaux in Gironde