2019 Chateau Le Pin Pomerol 750 ml

Bordeaux expert Jane Anson wrote, “[Le Pin] is one of those wines that can stop a room with a sip, and even seasoned wine collectors blush like children when they see a bottle of it on the table.”

Flamboyant, expensive, and absolutely head-turning, Le Pin is a hypercar of a bottle—and the 2019 lives up to that reputation. Antonio Galloni called it “magical” and “In a word: magnificent!” in his glowing review. “Soft, seamless and exceptionally beautiful,” he raved, “the 2019 is riveting right out of the gate. The wine’s balance is just mind-blowing.” 

In 1979, when the Thienpont family bought the tiny 2.8-hectare vineyard we now know as Le Pin, everybody thought the next logical step was to merge it with their neighboring family property, Vieux Château Certan. The grapes had been sold off for decades, after all.

But Belgian wine merchant Jacques Thienpont had a hidden agenda: to be a direct challenger in quality and purity of expression to Petrus. He has succeeded beyond his dreams. Now, Thienpont—together with his Scottish wife, Fiona Morrison MW, and their sons William and George—produce only 400-600 cases per year of this extreme rarity. In lesser vintages, they don’t make any at all. 

In the easy 2019 vintage, producing Le Pin was never in question. The Wine Advocate declared the year “turned out brilliantly,” combining “striking aromatic range with notable intensity and persistence of flavor.” A dry, mild winter allowed the growing season to start off early, and a rainy spring allowed vines to store water ahead of summer. The end of the season was a dream, and it shows perfectly in this dramatic star of Pomerol.