Chateau Le Pin, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France, 2020

Overview of the Wine
Located at the heart of the Pomerol plateau, the Le Pin estate belong hased to Jacques Thienpont since 1979. The vineyard is now made up of seven plots coverings a total of just two hectares. The estate is planted with 100% Merlot in gravelly clay and sandy gravel soils with traces of iron. The Pin is a wine made in very limited quantities. It is the result of an winemaking process in small stainless steel vats, by maturation in new barrels for 18 months.

Winemaker
Jacques Thienpont

Grape / Blend
100% Merlot

Origin
Pomerol, Bordeaux, France

Tasting Notes
The legendary wine Chateau Le Pin, named after the solitary pine tree on the estate, was created in 1979 by Jacques Thienpont, whose family owns Vieux Chateau Certan. With just over 2 ha of vines and exceptionally low yields, the quantity of wine produced each year by the Chateau, often times referred to as simply Le Pin, is incredibly small. Rich and aromatic, Le Pin has emerged as a rare and exceptional wine. Here, on a terroir of clay and gravel with a bit of sand, Merlot fully expresses its nobility.

100 Points - Vinous
The 2020 Le Pin is magnificent. What a wine. Seamless and exotic, the 2020 races across the palate with sumptuous dark fruit and a whole range of rose petal, spice and hard candy overtones that build into the explosive mid-palate and finish. I especially admire how the 2020 opens with some aeration. New oak is down from 100% to 70%, which really allows the purity of the fruit to shine through. Yields were 30 hectoliters per hectare, down from the more typical 35 or so, but overall production for Le Pin in bottles is much lower, as about only half of the vineyards were used. The rest went into the second wine, with the exception of a small parcel that is being redeveloped. In short: What more can I ask from a wine? Nothing.

100 Points - James Suckling
The complexity of the wine shows incredible aromas of perfectly ripe tannins and fresh flowers such as lavender and rose stem. Mineral. Stone. Hints of wet earth and fresh bark. Subtle and complete. So much incredible character. Concentrated center palate. Weightless at the end. Perfect wine. You want to drink the bottle but it will age for decades.

99 Points - Jeb Dunnuck
Le Pin 2020 has a deep garnet-purple color. It starts off a little subdued before erupting from the glass with powerful notes of plum preserves, blackberry compote, dark chocolate, smoked meats, and Indian spices, leading to touches of crushed rocks, black truffles, and cast-iron pan. The medium to full-bodied palate is densely laden with taut, muscular fruits, framed by very firm, ripe, rounded tannins and wonderful tension, finishing very long with loads of mineral and savory layers. Epic!

98 Points - Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from yields of 24 hectoliters per hectare, the 2020 Château Le Pin is all Merlot brought up in 75% new French oak, and it's the first vintage where the wine wasn't aged in all new barrels. An incredible wine, I think it surpasses the 2019, offering a classy bouquet of ripe black cherries, currants, tobacco, damp earth, and truffle, with perfectly integrated background oak that is certainly less noticeable than in previous vintages. Pure class on the palate, it’s full-bodied, deep, and concentrated, with perfect tannins, a layered, seamless mouthfeel, and a great finish. Still tight and reserved, it needs a solid decade of bottle age but is going to evolve for 30 years or more. It's a brilliant bottle of wine.

97 Points - Decanter
Ripe, dark chocolate, floral scents, rich blackcurrants - heady but refined. Supple and racy on the palate, thrilling even, a livewire of a wine. A combination of bitter and sour, savouriness and acidity. Much more freshness than I was expecting with clarity and precision. Lean and sinewy but with a wide finish. Less sexy more suave and it knows it! Quality of the tannins is excellent and this caresses the palate comfortably. A seamless and glowing Le Pin.

Product size: 750ml