2023 Château Le Pin - 1er OHK

The 2023 Le Pin is all sensuality. Rich, deep and explosive, the 2023 possesses notable depth. It is an especially exuberant, dense Le Pin. Dark-toned fruit, iron, leather, scorched earth and incense gradually unfurl in the glass. The long, sustained finish is suggestive of what is certain to be a very bright future. I tasted the 2023 from the en primeur blend and then directly from barrels crafted by Seguin-Moreau, the historical cooper of choice here, and Taransaud, a more recent addition. I found young wines of tremendous freshness and verve. This is a magnificent showing from Jacques Thienpont, Fiona Morrison MW and Guillaume Thienpont. 

Shows the exotic nature of Le Pin with blackberries, milk chocolate and hints of spices, as well as coffee beans from the ripe seeds in the grapes. It's medium-bodied with focused and creamy tannins. Also plenty of nectarine and clementine character. This is so classic Le Pin at the finish. It lasts for minutes in your mouth. Silky and flavorful. 100% merlot magic. (04/2024)

From a tiny parcel of deep, gravelly soils (2-3 meters) on top of clay, the 2023 Château Le Pin is all Merlot that today is raised in two-thirds new oak. This beauty has a gorgeous perfume of spicy red fruits, smoked tobacco, spicy oak, and savory flower and tobacco nuances. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Le Pin that has the château's sexy, seamless mouthfeel, solid ripeness, building, silky tannins, and a kiss of minerality on the finish. It shines for its purity and finesse and has plenty of classic Le Pin magic. (05/2024)

Le Pin 2023 is 100% Merlot and it has a pH of 3.75. It is aging in 65% new oak barriques and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It is quite shy and whispery to begin, offering glimpses at floral notions of wisteria and red roses, leading to spicy notes of cinnamon and clove, before opening out to a powerful core of wild blueberries, juicy blackberries, and black raspberries, with an underlying waft of forest floor. The medium to full-bodied palate is electric, delivering vibrating notes of black berries and purple flowers, framed by super-fine-grained tannins and amazing tension, finishing on a lingering, ferrous note. Magic! (05/2024)

The 2023 Le Pin is another strong effort for this small Pomerol winery, wafting from the glass with aromas of wild berries, violets, exotic spices and creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, polished and suave, it's velvety and refined, with attractive purity of fruit, lively acids and a long, gently vanillin-inflected finish. It's the result of multiple harvests, starting with young vines, between September 11 and 23.