The 2005 Château Le Pin is all Merlot from a tiny vineyard just across from Vieux Château Certain and was raised in new barrels. It has a massive nose of ripe blackberries, kirsch, saddle leather, smoked tobacco, and Mediterranean herbs that turns more floral and violet-laced with air. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully balanced on the palate with ultra-fine tannins, it has an almost Burgundian-like elegance and seamlessness as well as incredible length. It’s not the biggest example from vineyard yet it shows the inherent quality and elegance of the Chateau. Drink bottles over the coming 15-20 years.

Walk into a truffle store, light up a Cuban cigar, pick up a basket of fresh blackberries and plums, take the fruit and remove all the water so you’re left with only the simple, pure essence of the berries, drizzle fresh tangerine juice, add velvet textures and soak your palate in it and you are tasting 2005 Le Pin. If this wine is this good now, I can only imagine what it will be like in 10 years. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/wine-tasting-note/?vintage=2005&wine=Chateau%20Le%20Pin

96+ The 2005 Le Pin is deep garnet-brick in color. Starting off a little shy, the nose is primary and youthful, with a fair bit of oak still poking through. It eventually opens out to notes of black cherry preserves and stewed plums with hints of red roses, pencil shavings, and fertile loam. Medium-bodied, flamboyant, and remarkably young and plump in the mouth, it has a firm and grainy texture with seamless freshness and an epically long finish. While tempting to drink now, give it another 5-7 years to find its stride and drink it over the next 30 years+. Le Pin is a tiny, 6.5 acre estate high on the plateau of Pomerol, mainly composed of sand and gravel, and thus very well drained. Purchased by Jacques Thienpont in late 1970s, the first vintage was 1979. The style tends to be perfumed and exotic, delivering opulence without weightiness. Only 500 cases were made in 2005.

The Le Pin 2005 has a very sweet, candied bouquet that actually reminds me slightly of a Super-Tuscan, not in a bad way either. It is a complex set of aromas that bring to mind a burlesque: red cherries, soy, undergrowth, a sprig of heather and lavender. As usual it is one of the most opulent, lascivious Pomerols on the nose and returning to my glass over ten minutes it unfurls with careless abandon. The palate is medium-bodied with fine silky tannins. But it does not quite deliver the same sophistication on the second half that is quite linear, touches of coffee and marmalade with a hint of aniseed on the finish. This is a delicious, quite mercurial Le Pin that you could broach now, though I would prefer to leave it another three or four years.

Shows berry tobacco and coffee character on the nose with hints of mushroom and light toasty oak. Full-bodied with lots of berry chocolate and light dried spice character followed by a long finish. Not the 1998 or even the 2001 but outstanding. Best after 2013. -JS