Le Pin (Pomerol) 2010

Pomerol, First Growth

Units	Size	Case size	GBP Price:	Quantities	Buy
3	75cl Bottle	Case 3	£9,900 per Case	Case	[Add to shopping basket]

Tasting Notes
Jacques Thienpont has crafted an impeccable 2010 Le Pin. Cropped at 34hl/ha and offering 14.2% alcohol, it has a sumptuous bouquet of luscious blackberries and bilberries, crushed stone elements and a touch of cassis. It has certainly comes out of its shell since its showing in barrel. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a sweet core of boysenberry and dark plum fruit, fresh acidity and a silky smooth, quite precocious cassis-driven finish that is long and sensual in the mouth. This is a beautiful ’10 Pomerol that deserves a decade in bottle. Score: 95 Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 01 March 2013
The sample taken from a blend of young vines and old vines in Taransaud and Seguin Moreau barrels, the Le Pin was picked from 24th September until 25th September, cropped at 34hl/ha. It delivers 14.2% alcohol with a total acidity of 3.20 and pH of 3.75. There was no saignée like in 2009. Tasted with the pneumatic drills in the background, it has a very pure bouquet with blackberry, crushed strawberry, limestone and a touch of rose petals, quite understated compared to recent vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with tensile tannins, good mineralité and tension here with vibrant, pure dark plum, boysenberry and cassis. Superb precision towards the finish, much tauter than the 2009, the Le Pin 2010 is a great Pomerol from the Pomerol undergoing a complete renovation (due to be completed in June 2011.) Tasted April 2011. Score: 93 - 95 Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 29 April 2011
Dreamlike deep nose with blackberries, graphite and some smoky notes. Opens with licorice, vanilla and red fruit. Full and intensely fruity on the palate with lots of dark berries. Complex, dense and deeply structured with polished tannins and a great finish that just goes on and on. The balance is amazing. Even better than 2009. Drink from 2018. Score: 100 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2018+ 04 February 2013
Made from 100% Merlot (one percent for each rating point I’ve assigned), this wine is explosively rich and compelling. Dense plum/purple, it boasts the remarkable delineation and freshness that are hallmarks of this vintage. From a much smaller production than normal because of Merlot’s poor flowering, the very hot, dry growing and harvest conditions, this is a super-endowed, very rich Le Pin with its exotic new oak largely buried behind its extravagant concentration, power and richness. I don’t know what its natural alcohol level is, but I suspect it is pushing 15% in 2010. Rich, tannic, but exceptionally well-endowed, this is a sublime example of Merlot at its very finest. Forget it for 5-7 years (which is somewhat unusual for Le Pin) and drink it over the following three decades. Score: 100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2018-2048 01 February 2013
2010: The 2010 Le Pin is 100% Merlot, aged in 100% new oak, but the Thienponts never want to hear that this is one of those 'cult wines.' It has been widely imitated by others thanks to its enormous success, and as I have written many times, it is a relatively exotic take on Bordeaux. The 2010 is the darkest colored Le Pin I have ever seen - black purple, no doubt due to tiny yields and the very small berries that were the result of the drought of 2010. Uber-concentrated, with fabulous cassis and black cherry fruit, licorice, and notes of subtle smoke and toast, the wine is full-bodied, with sweet tannin and remarkable thickness/unctuosity. It should prove to be one of the longest-lived Le Pins made in its first 30+ years of existence. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030+. Score: 96 - 98 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 04 May 2011
Blend from different barrels. Very dark crimson and voluptuous. Lovely combination of richness, savour and freshness. A big step up. Fresh minerality on the finish. Jacques Thienpont was worried about the Merlots, and Alexandre Thienpont encouraged picking here so that he could pick at Vieux Château Certan. Most unusual freshness. Sinewy. Really racy but with great density. Had two Oz oenologists on hand in case they needed help in alcohol reduction but in the event didn’t need to use them. Jacques says he would like to have waited a little longer but the results aren’t too bad, are they? Score: 18 Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2020-2030 15 April 2011
Has all the charm of the '09 but to my mind a touch more vivacity and structure. Lifted Burgundian red fruit and spice aromas and flavour. Supple caressing fruit on the palate. Decadent sweetness on the mid-palate then long filigree tannins. Score: 18 - 19 Decanter, Decanter.com Maturity: 2020-2035 01 April 2011
This is a stunning display of purity, with lush raspberry and boysenberry fruit, that never gets heady despite its obvious weight. Alluring spice and graphite notes flicker, but for now this is still exuberantly youthful and primal. And very, very long. Tasted non-blind. Score: 96 - 99 James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 31 March 2011

Tasting Notes

Jacques Thienpont has crafted an impeccable 2010 Le Pin. Cropped at 34hl/ha and offering 14.2% alcohol, it has a sumptuous bouquet of luscious blackberries and bilberries, crushed stone elements and a touch of cassis. It has certainly comes out of its shell since its showing in barrel. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a sweet core of boysenberry and dark plum fruit, fresh acidity and a silky smooth, quite precocious cassis-driven finish that is long and sensual in the mouth. This is a beautiful ’10 Pomerol that deserves a decade in bottle.

Score: 95

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 01 March 2013

The sample taken from a blend of young vines and old vines in Taransaud and Seguin Moreau barrels, the Le Pin was picked from 24th September until 25th September, cropped at 34hl/ha. It delivers 14.2% alcohol with a total acidity of 3.20 and pH of 3.75. There was no saignée like in 2009. Tasted with the pneumatic drills in the background, it has a very pure bouquet with blackberry, crushed strawberry, limestone and a touch of rose petals, quite understated compared to recent vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with tensile tannins, good mineralité and tension here with vibrant, pure dark plum, boysenberry and cassis. Superb precision towards the finish, much tauter than the 2009, the Le Pin 2010 is a great Pomerol from the Pomerol undergoing a complete renovation (due to be completed in June 2011.) Tasted April 2011.

Score: 93 - 95

Neal Martin, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 29 April 2011

Dreamlike deep nose with blackberries, graphite and some smoky notes. Opens with licorice, vanilla and red fruit. Full and intensely fruity on the palate with lots of dark berries. Complex, dense and deeply structured with polished tannins and a great finish that just goes on and on. The balance is amazing. Even better than 2009. Drink from 2018.

Score: 100

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2018+ 04 February 2013

Made from 100% Merlot (one percent for each rating point I’ve assigned), this wine is explosively rich and compelling. Dense plum/purple, it boasts the remarkable delineation and freshness that are hallmarks of this vintage. From a much smaller production than normal because of Merlot’s poor flowering, the very hot, dry growing and harvest conditions, this is a super-endowed, very rich Le Pin with its exotic new oak largely buried behind its extravagant concentration, power and richness. I don’t know what its natural alcohol level is, but I suspect it is pushing 15% in 2010. Rich, tannic, but exceptionally well-endowed, this is a sublime example of Merlot at its very finest. Forget it for 5-7 years (which is somewhat unusual for Le Pin) and drink it over the following three decades.

Score: 100

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2018-2048 01 February 2013

2010: The 2010 Le Pin is 100% Merlot, aged in 100% new oak, but the Thienponts never want to hear that this is one of those 'cult wines.' It has been widely imitated by others thanks to its enormous success, and as I have written many times, it is a relatively exotic take on Bordeaux. The 2010 is the darkest colored Le Pin I have ever seen - black purple, no doubt due to tiny yields and the very small berries that were the result of the drought of 2010. Uber-concentrated, with fabulous cassis and black cherry fruit, licorice, and notes of subtle smoke and toast, the wine is full-bodied, with sweet tannin and remarkable thickness/unctuosity. It should prove to be one of the longest-lived Le Pins made in its first 30+ years of existence. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030+.

Score: 96 - 98

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 04 May 2011

Blend from different barrels. Very dark crimson and voluptuous. Lovely combination of richness, savour and freshness. A big step up. Fresh minerality on the finish. Jacques Thienpont was worried about the Merlots, and Alexandre Thienpont encouraged picking here so that he could pick at Vieux Château Certan. Most unusual freshness. Sinewy. Really racy but with great density. Had two Oz oenologists on hand in case they needed help in alcohol reduction but in the event didn’t need to use them. Jacques says he would like to have waited a little longer but the results aren’t too bad, are they?

Score: 18

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com Maturity: 2020-2030 15 April 2011

Has all the charm of the '09 but to my mind a touch more vivacity and structure. Lifted Burgundian red fruit and spice aromas and flavour. Supple caressing fruit on the palate. Decadent sweetness on the mid-palate then long filigree tannins.

Score: 18 - 19

Decanter, Decanter.com Maturity: 2020-2035 01 April 2011

This is a stunning display of purity, with lush raspberry and boysenberry fruit, that never gets heady despite its obvious weight. Alluring spice and graphite notes flicker, but for now this is still exuberantly youthful and primal. And very, very long. Tasted non-blind.

Score: 96 - 99

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator 31 March 2011

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