Le Pin

The Story of Le Pin is a fascinating one.  Bought by the Thienpont family (owners of the celebrated Vieux Chateaux Certan) in 1979, this tiny plot has been transformed from simple generic Pomerol into so much more than a ‘Garagiste'.  Le Pin is extremely rare, thus making it one of the most sought-after wines in the world...with a price-tag to match!

View our Le Pin wines

Owner Jacques Thienpont has gradually acquired more land from neighbours (though Le Pin still only covers five acres) and it's this land which is a great example of terroir, plus some fantastic winemaking.  Le Pin is almost 100% Merlot (just a splash of Cabernet Franc), with 30 year-old vines producing approximately 30 hectolitres a hectare.  The wine is vinified in steel and transferred to new oak casks for malolactic fermentation.  Here it stays for 18-24 months before being bottled, unfiltered.

Though there was a little Le Pin in 1979 and 1980, this new wine really dates from the 1981 vintage.  It took some time to get the vineyard and chai into sufficient order for fine wine to be produced but since then Le Pin has rapidly achieved a fine reputation. Coupled with this and its rarity (only producing about 600 cases a year), prices for this small Pomerol chateau have rocketed.  At the time of writing the 1982 vintage (if you can find it!) trades for around £5000 a bottle and was given 99 points by Robert Parker, who gave this tasting note in 2000:

"Displaying no signs of wear and tear, or advanced maturity, the 1982 Le Pin has been an opulent, flamboyant, thrill-a-second sipper for over fifteen years. This dense opaque garnet/purple-colored wine boasts a huge, smoky, jammy, kirsch, blackberry, and cherry-scented nose, an opulent texture, low acidity, layers of fruit and glycerin, and a thick, intense, powerful yet velvety-textured finish. This wine should continue to drink well for a decade. As it sat in the glass, notes of roasted coffee and toasty oak also emerged. This is Bordeaux at its most ostentatious and exotic"