Pichon Baron is a Pauillac Second Growth that has performed at First Growth level for much of the AXA Millsimes era. The 2006 vintage is one of the great classical Pauillacs of its decade: structured, cool, savory, with the kind of cassis-and-graphite spine that needed nearly two decades to unwind. Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant with a generous Merlot fleshing-out, it finally reads as fully mature without losing its tannic backbone. A textbook expression of why the left bank ages the way it does.