Le Pin 2023 (750ML)

99-100 JS / 98-100 WI / 97-99 VM / 96-99 AG / 97 JA / 97 DE / 94-96 WA

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. - James Suckling

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! - Lisa Perotti-Brown, Wine Independent

The 2023 Le Pin was picked between September 11 and 23 at 39hL/ha—four pickings according to age of vine and plot. It matured in 65% new oak (this figure has gradually reduced since the 2020 vintage). They had no mildew, due to the free-draining gravel soils, though the Thienponts saw more at L'If. I love this nose. This is so pure and refined, it seems to embrace and gently hug the senses, like your favorite aunt or uncle. It blossoms in the glass to reveal subtle crushed stone and graphite notes. The palate has unerring symmetry, finely chiseled tannins and a linear, penetrating finish that goes on and on. This is one of the best vintages of Le Pin I have tasted from barrel, more serious and more floral than some recent vintages. -- Neal Martin, Vinous Media

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. -- Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

Sinew, precision, stunning depths through the palate, less exuberant than some vintages of Le Pin and yet the texture is immediately arresting, with rich peony and iris aromatics, fleshy raspberry and damson fruits but also grip, orange peel, cigar box, tobacco leaf and a languorous stretch out through the palate. 65% new oak (2019 was the last year to be 100% new oak). Yields of 40hl/h, even with a touch of green harvesting, very unusual at Le Pin. - Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

A floral and opulent nose; irises, and strongly-scented dark fruits - plums, blackcurrants and black cherries. Really very expressive aromatics, opulent and forward. Smooth and silky, really caressing and gentle, smooth and delicate, the power is there underneath but subtly while the ripe dark black and cool blue fruit makes most of its mark. The florality and clear iron (really accentuated in a cool vintage) is fully apparent, minerality is also very present with black sticky, spicy liquorice and graphite. It’s a more serious Le Pin, certainly than the 2022, this has muscle but slightly hidden, it’s firm and nicely structured but has edges of spice, tobacco and dark chocolate as well as bite and tang but all with an elevated elegance. Serious but sophisticated and confident. Ageing 65% new, 35% once used barrels. Instead of 100%. Extracted one third less this vintage. 3.75pH. - GH, Decanter

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. - Wine Advocate, William Kelley