Château Pichon Comtesse Lalande· Pauillac

If Pichon Baron is the masculine half of the old Longueville estate, Comtesse is the other, and the contrast is the whole point. This has long been the most perfumed, most silken wine in Pauillac, its higher Merlot share and parcels reaching toward Saint-Julien giving it a grace that sets it apart from its neighbours.

It belongs now to the Rouzaud family of Champagne Roederer, and under their stewardship the wine has, if anything, sharpened its identity. The 2005 I tasted recently was a vertical highlight, violets, plum, tobacco, drinking beautifully, and the 2010 has decades still in front of it.

I find Comtesse the easiest Pauillac to love early, because its charm does not demand the patience the muscular wines of the commune do. That said, the great vintages reward cellaring, and I allocate the top years to clients who can wait.