Les Griffons de Pichon Baron AOC Pauillac, 2018

Produced by second-classed growth Château Pichon Baron, a star property in Pauillac. 2018 Les Griffons has sweet and savoury aromas of vanilla, toast, cassis, char and chocolate. It has succulent blackcurrant and blueberry fruit flavours with a smooth, round palate. Smoky, meaty flavours emerge and persist, giving the wine great depth. Grapes for Les Griffons, one of the second wines of the property created since 2012, come from primarily gravelly plots near the Gironde estuary. These are particularly suited to Cabernet Sauvignon, which makes up 52% of the 2018 assemblage with 48% Merlot. Matured in oak barrels for 18 months with 60% new and 40% one use. The picturesque fairytale turreted Château, commissioned in 1851, sits beside the D2 in the south of the Pauillac Appellation, close to the boundary with Saint-Julien.