100 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate While bottles that have been traded or traveled extensively are beginning to tire, I was fortunate to buy a case of the 1982 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande from a cold cellar in Alsace where it had remained unmoved since release. Given impeccable storage such as this, the wine remains simply remarkable and numbers one of the vintage’s greatest achievements. Soaring from the glass with aromas of cassis and blackberries mingled with hints of cigar wrapper, dark chocolate, licorice and violets, it’s medium to full-bodied, broad and velvety, with a sensual and enveloping core of fruit, rich but melted tannins and a long, resonant finish. Seamless and complete, I’d choose a pristine bottle of the 1982 Pichon Lalande over any of the Pauillac first growths, and I’m trying to ration my remaining half-dozen bottles without much success. (WK)  (2/2022)

100 points Decanter May Eliane de Lencquesaing had been at Pichon since 1978, so four years by the time the 1982 rolled around. The Merlot levels are a little higher than they are today (it was a favourite grape of her father’s), but this flamboyant, fleshy style is exotic in all the right places. In fact it jumps out of the glass, with its caramel-edged sweet black fruits. The aromatics are still full-on wow, the fruits and tannins melded perfectly together. It’s been two years since I last tasted this wine, and it was every bit as good back then. (JA)  (4/2018)

100 points Jeb Dunnuck I’ve been lucky enough to have had the 1982 Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande a half dozen times over the past few years and it continues to show magically. Tasted out of a magnum, it has a still lively plum/ruby hue as well as gorgeous Pauillac notes of blackcurrants, smoked earth, cedarwood, pencil lead, and forest floor. It’s unquestionably fully mature and in that sweet spot where it has incredible aromatics, beautiful, sweet fruit, no hard edges, and a gorgeous finish. I don’t see it falling off a cliff any time soon, yet there’s no need to delay gratification either. This is a magical, heavenly Bordeaux I wish every reader could taste. (JD)  (12/2020)

100 points John Gilman Blame it on the excess of youthful excitement, but my original purchase of 1982 Pichon-Lalande has now been gone from my cellar for many years, and I would love to have those bottles back today, as this vintage has just gotten better and better with the passing of time and is clearly the greatest Pichon-Lalande after the 1961 that I have ever tasted! It had been four years between bottles and this recent showing at our vertical was sheer perfection and clearly the finest showing of the 1982 that I have seen yet, as the wine offers up stunning depth and aromatic purity, tied to a lovely veneer of exoticism that even the superb 1989 cannot keep pace with at this time! The bouquet soars from the glass in a celestial blend of plums, sweet black cherries, mocha, a lovely touch of musky violet, cigar smoke, summer truffles, gorgeous soil tones, almost a hint of smoked meats, menthol and toasty new oak. On the palate the wine is very pure and precise, full-bodied and sappy at the core, with stunning complexity and grip, melting tannins and a very, very long, very pure and utterly profound finish. I have always loved this vintage of Pichon-Lalande, but it seems that it has finally reached its true apogee of peak drinkability in the last couple of years and I have clearly underrated this wine in the past! (JG)  (2/2020)

100 points Vinous Another dazzling wine, the 1982 Pichon Lalande is utterly profound from the very first taste. In the glass, the 1982 is powerful and explosive, with seemingly endless layers of flavor that continue to unfurl over time. Vivid, intensely aromatic and seamless, the 1982 has enough pedigree and depth to drink well for at least several decades. What a wine! (AG)  (6/2017)

98 points Wine Spectator This unfurls with amazing grace, as refined tannins let the warmed cassis, macerated plum, pain d’épices, melted licorice, roasted alder and smoldering tobacco notes drape together and hang endlessly on the finish. A stunner that has been stuck at at this sublime point for a while, with no signs of moving any time soon. Thoroughly sublime and still the modern-era high-water mark for these wines. (JM)  (11/2014)