The climate for the year 1999 was mild and humid thoughout the spring and part of the summer.

These conditions were propitious to the setting in of diseases and favoured the vegetative development of the vine.

Thus the 98/99 wine-growing year required a great deal of attention.

Numerous anticryptogamic treatments were necessary. It was only due to these treatments that we were able to

obtain sound, ripe grapes at the time of the harvest. Fortunately the last two weeks of July as well as the first two weeks of September were magnificent : hot and sunny.

The fertility of the vine was generally high this year. We therefore carried out green harvests to keep the yield within the proportions compatible with obtaining a wine of high quality.

By slaloming around the rainy periods, we were able to harvest the grapes in perfect condition : ripe without any overmaturation. In order to achieve this we divided our 150 pickers into three teams, each supported by its own group of sorters. By this means it was possible to pass rapidly and with great flexibility from one parcel to another in accordance with the picking plan and weather constraints. Each parcel was picked at its peak, and the best parcels were picked at the height of their potential.

On arrival in the vat-room, sorting and selection by parcel took place, followed by a vinification individually tailored to each vat. This year new equipment was installed for handling the harvest and for the thermoregulation of the vat-room. The cellar workers were organized into teams to survey the vinification 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
We have obtained wines that are silky, dense, with good colour and packed with aromatic fruit. Rigorous selection enables us to produce a wine whose characteristics, typical of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande are harmony, balance and elegance.

Thomas Do Chi Nam

Quality

A new trump card at Pichon
Stephanie Danglade : Quality Controler

For a long time wine-making was essentially based on empiricism. To transmit this experience from generation to generation, it is important today to include in our savoir faire the notion of quality. This consists of ensuring that our work is both guaranteed and dependable in the light of scientific and technical progress and modern methods.
Such a step appeared to us to be indispensable in order to perpetuate the style of Pichon already much appreciated and to satisfy our faithful clients who are becoming increasingly more knowledgeable and taking notice of the methods of production employed. It is a complement to our traditions which we are zealously working to improve.