A splinter from the great Pichon estate, Pichon-Lalande dates back to the time of Bernard de Longueville, the son of Francois de Pichon and Catherine de Bavolier. The family assumed the Barony of Longueville when Bernard married Anne Daffis de Longueville in 1646. They had two sons: Francois and Jacques. Their descendents are most relevant to the subsequent history of Pichon-Lalande.
The famous winemaking familiy had already owned vineyards in Margaux and, in 1689 they purchased several plots in Pauillac which, when they came to the Pichon family, were to be the foundation of the Pichon vineyard. In time, this was augmented by the exchange of plots of vines with the neighbouring Latour.
Soon the estate was well-renowned, eclipsed only by its prestigious neighbour within the confines of the commune. Jacques passed away in 1731 the property was inherited by his son, also named Jacques, and it was handed down two more generations of the Pichon family, Jean-Pierre and then Joseph.
Born in 1755, it was Joseph that held the tenure during the French Revolution and, as a result, was imprisoned for a short while. He was the last member of the family to own all of the vines – the estate was divided among his children, creating the Pichon faux jumeaux that we know today.
Joseph had five children; two sons and three daughters. Of these, tragically only one son was still alive. Raoul assumed the title of Baron, and, had the laws of primogeniture not been abolished, he would have inherited the entirety of his father’s holdings. The Napoleonic laws prevented the passing of an estate to a sole recipient, stipulating that it must be divided between all possible heirs.
Two shares that would have belonged to the late son Louis came into Raouls’ possession, while three shares passed onto the daughters. It was Raoul’s holdings that became the basis for Chateau Pichon-Baron, whereas the daughters’ shares formed the nexus of Chateau Pichon-Lalande.
Despite the splitting up of the estate, it was still managed, for a time, as a whole. It was following the death of Raoul in 1860 that the portion allotted to his sisters became steadily more independent. This was largely down to the initiative of one daughter, Marie-Laure-Virginie. Marie-Laure had married Comte Henri de Lalande in 1818, thereby becoming Comtesse de Lalande. The couple resided in the recently erected chateau, attractively designed by the renowned architect Duphot in 1840.
Interestingly, the land beneath the chateau was purchased from the neighbouring Chateau Latour. Following the death of her sisters Gabrielle (who married Comte de Laveur) and Sophie (a nun), neither of whom bore children, Marie-Laure was left with total control over the vineyards and estate. It was classified as a second growth in the 1855 classification.
Marie-Laure was also heirless at the time of her death, and so had willed Pichon-Lalande to her niece, Elizabeth de Narbonne-Pelet, who was married to another Lalande, Comte Charles. She then handed it down to both her daughters, Henriette and Sophie, and when Sophie died her portion was inherited by her five children. Henriette and Elizabeth’s grandchildren then sold off the estate, the purchasers being a consortium led by Eduoard and Louis Miailhe.
The Miailhe family began as brokers and negociants in the 18th century, but by the early 1900s they had started acquiring properties of their own. Their greatest acquisition was undoubtedly Pichon-Lalande, owning a 55% stake of the property. With the death of Edouard in 1959 the properties were distributed among his descendents, the Mailhe section of Pichon-Lalande being managed initially by William-Alain Miailhe. He resigned in 1972 after bitter disputes with the other shareholders who controlled the other 45%.
Between 1975 and 1978 the estate was under the supervision of Michel-Delon of Leoville-Las-Cases. It was only in 1978 that the estate fell into the possession of Edouard’s youngest daughter, May-Eliane. She acted with lightning speed, buying out four of the other associates and thereby gaining a 84% share in the property. A prodigiously hard working woman, until very recently May-Eliane and her children owned Pichon-Lilande outright, and over the decades the wines have benefited from their labours.
Sadly, the ageing May-Eliane, left with no obvious single heir, was forced to look for outside investment. Inheritance taxes would have forced the family to sell the tax if it were divided up between all members of the next generation. Since then a majority stake has been acquired by the Rouzard family of Roederer. Fortunately May-Eliane’s legacy lives on in the form of Gildas d’Ollone, her nephew. He continues to manage the estate and is committed to improving upon his aunt’s achievements.
Pichon-Lalande has 75 hectares of vineyard at its disposal; these are mostly located in Pauillac although a sizeable portion are planted in St Julien. In fact, until 1959 some bottles were labelled AC St Julien and others AC St Pauillac. Most vines grow on typical Gunzian gravels over a deeper clay and some very deep limestone and sandstone.
Vines are planted at 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, an impressive12% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot. The harvest is undertaken manually who travel from Andalusia every year. Crushed fruit is fermented in 33 temperature-controlled stainless steel vats.
As the year comes to a close the consulting oenologists set aside those wines destined to become grand vin (Chateau Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande) or the second wine, Reserve de Comtesse. The latter accounts for 20-50% of overall production, with the proportion varying based on the vintage. Grand vin wines are placed in Allier and Nievre oak before release.
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