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  • Country ranking ?

    514
  • Producer ranking ?

    17
  • Decanting time

    2h
  • When to drink

    now to 2035
  • Food Pairing

    roasted lamb

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This wine had finished malolactic fermentation, but it was still very primary and largely unevolved. There will be approximately 525 cases of this 100% Merlot in 2008. A dense purple color is followed by notes of cassis, kirsch, plums, and hints of underbrush as well as roasted coffee beans. The wine possesses superb concentration, beautiful freshness, and an opulent, dense style with exceptionally sweet tannin. It will be an outrageously good Pomerol to consume over the next 25 years.

Score: 94/96 Robert Parker, RobertParker.com (182), April 2009

The 2008 Le Pin has a sumptuous bouquet with red cherries, crushed strawberry, truffle, orange rind and light floral scents. It comes across as being fully mature although the palate indicates that it will gift a long drinking window. It offers plenty of raspberry and blackberry fruit, the tannins perhaps a little edgier than other vintages, a touch of graininess towards the fresh, mineral-driven finish. It is not the most voluptuous Le Pin, more reflective of the growing season than the terroir. 2018 - 2038

Score: 94 Neal Martin, vinous.com, February 2018

Started the harvest on 1st October in three shifts, with the young vines and waited three of four days with the older vine. This has an intriguing nose - usually Le Pin is all sweetness and light at this stage, but here, it is deeper, darker and broodier - perhaps even more complex than the outstanding 2006. Brambly black fruits, a touch of blueberry and wild hedgerow, crushed stones. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins, imbued with the same sense of minerality that I think their vines are now imparting. An enthralling sense of energy on the finish. This is a serious. Tasted April 2009. Tasted April 2009.

Score: 95/97 Neal Martin, RobertParker.com, April 2009

Complex aromas of blackberries, cherries, chocolate and violets. Very Burgundian nose. Full-bodied, with a wonderful texture and sweet fruit. So much chocolate and silky texture. Really beautiful and mesmerizing. Superlong.

Score: 93/96 James Suckling, Wine Spectator, April 2009

Mid crimson. Rich and vegy and succulent. Very sweet and complete and lively. So polished and juicy yet great vivacity. Great zest as well as sweetness. Great stuff , all the way through. Very smooth and lots of sleek quality. Much the most energetic vintage of Pin I remember. Not much higher than 13% alcohol but definitely Le Pin in terms of richness.

Score: 18 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, April 2009

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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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Origin

Pomerol, Bordeaux
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