x
  • Country ranking ?

    232
  • Producer ranking ?

    9
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2030
  • Food Pairing

    Butternut Squash and Cheddar Strata

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

Château Le Pin, or simply Le Pin, is an unclassed Bordeaux wine from the appellation Pomerol. There has never been an official classification of Pomerol. Even so, Chateau Le Pin commands prices that put it at levels equal to the best wines of Bordeaux. The unusually small estate is located on the Right Bank of France’s Gironde estuary, and its wine is periodically one of the world's most expensive red wines. Le Pin was the first of the "garage wines" or microchateau that have become cult collector wines. These wines defy the traditional classifications.
 

Madame Laubie, whose family had owned the plot since 1924 sold the vineyard in 1979 to the Belgian Thienpont family for 1 million francs. Developed by Marcel and Gérard Thienpont on less than 2 hectares, wine was produced by microcuvée from a farmhouse basement. The property was given the name Le Pin by the Thienponts from a solitary pine tree that shades the property. By acquiring tiny adjoining plots of land, Jacques has doubled the size of Le Pin to five acres.

Occasionally the most expensive wine in the world, continually receiving high ratings from wine critics and produced in extremely small numbers, Le Pin bottles are a constant presence on the wine auction market. Le Pin produces just 600 to 700 cases each year.
Currently managed by Jacques Thienpont, additional tiny plots of land have been acquired. Some years no wine is produced.

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Vintage 1990

An early, even flowering, a warm but unspectacular summer and an exceptionally hot period during the end of August and the first half of September. It was this heat that made it possible for the record harvest to not only to fully ripen, but also to concentrate the fruit.  The harvest started on September 14 and was finished before heavy rains commenced on October 2. Another reason for the success of the vintage was that most châteaux had invested in their cellars and were able to work such a large and hot harvest. It was now possible to control the fermentation temperatures better than in earlier hot vintages, such as 1947. The grapes produced wines with such high natural alcohol that chaptalization became unnecessary. They showed deep colour, high and unusually soft tannin levels and a better acidity than first thought, as well as great fruit concentration. The media hype was great, particularly thanks to the advent of new wine magazines - this was the vintage that cemented Robert Parker’s reputation. The prices rose rapidly and have not looked back since. I remember all Premier Crus (including Pétrus) being offered to end consumers for around 50 euros en-primeur in 1983.

The scene when the 1990 vintage came along was quite different. There was a surplus of very good to great wine on the market – for the first time there was talk of three great vintages following one another. This lead to most châteaux lowering their prices by about 20 per cent compared to their 1989 prices, even though the quality was outstanding. There had been a steady increase in prices during the 1980s, but they were now more or less back to the opening prices of the 1982s. It was again a record harvest, but because most châteaux had by now introduced a ‘second wine’ and due to the fact they were more selective with regards to quality, there was actually less wine being bottled as ‘Grand Vin’ than in 1982.

We have been following both these vintages from a comparatively early age, as they were both precocious and easy to drink from the start. The top wines from both vintages are spectacular, but the overall quality is much higher in 1990. Here the wines were equally successful on both sides of the river, and even minor châteaux produced something special. We have always found most 1982s from the right bank to be too alcoholic and lacking in structure; indeed many are now ageing rapidly.

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Average Bottle Price

2023 2020 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2005 2000
4 450€ +11.2% 4 001€ +14.0% 3 511€ -5.0% 3 694€ +11.0% 3 329€ +11.1% 2 996€ -9.9% 3 326€ -3.0% 3 429€ +183.2% 1 211€ +154.4% 476€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Latest Pro-tasting notes

12 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Full

ending

Long, Extensive and Flavorful

flavors

Licorice, Vanilla, Coffee and Herbs

nose

Intense

recommend

Yes

taste

Warming, Well-structured, Full-bodied, Rich, Full and Sweet tannins

Written Notes

The intense nose of the 1990 Le Pin really stood out, bursting with plums and cassis, along with their trees ready to be plucked from the garden of Versailles. Edges of green beans and stalk rounded out the nose. The palate was rich and lovely, continuing the decadent fruit theme with hints of coffee and more green bean. The 1990 had outstanding thickness and richness, setting it apart from most of the pack in this distinguished flight.
  • 96p

This is among the most profound Le Pins made to date. The wine exhibits a dense, dark ruby/plum colour, a spectacular, hedonistic aromatic profile consisting of exotic spices, jammy kirsch and other black fruits intermixed with lavish quantities of pain grille. On the palate, the wine is a velvety-textured fruit bomb with layers of concentration, fabulous ripeness, copious glycerin, and well-integrated sweet tannin. It is a decadently rich, voluptuously-textured, full-bodied wine that is impossible to resist, even though it is still an infant in terms of development.

  • 99p

Tasted on the 9th December 2016. This wine showed fasscinating and riveting display of richness, sophisticated touch and variety of flavours in kinky, funky way. Melot at its best here! Just imagine how long this wine will keep, because at age of 26 years there still is many yearsto go.

  • 99p
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Information

Origin

Pomerol, Bordeaux

Vintage Quality

Outstanding

Value For Money

Good

Investment potential

Excellent

Fake factory

There is a possibility

Glass time

1h

Drinking temperature

16
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