Chateau Le Pin - Le Pin - Ex Chateau 2018

DECANTER: "This is extremely good, expansive and luxurious with a stunning texture – vibrant and powerful, and a floral side that becomes clear as it opens in the glass, lifting the whole thing not through acidity but through aromatics. The real difference with Le Pin and other 100% Merlot wines is the sumptuousness through the mid palate, it’s so wide and rich, you can’t just walk over it but lie down on it, feather pillow style. They had a yield of 30hl/ha, mainly due to thicker than usual skins with some concentration at the finish, and added a selected rather than indigenous yeast to deal with the alcohol levels. 3.7Ph. 70IPT. 2019, by the way, is the 40th anniversary vintage here for the Thienponts. Drinking Window 2026 - 2040"

JEB DUNNUCK: "About as sexy as wine gets, the 2018 Le Pin comes from a tiny vineyard located just across from Vieux Château Certan and is always 100% Merlot brought up in new barrels. It reveals a deep purple color as well as a heavenly bouquet of crème de cassis, roasted coffee, vanilla, and toasted spice. Deep, full-bodied, seamless, and incredibly layered on the palate, with ultra-fine tannins, it's already approachable, with the flamboyant style of the vintage, yet should evolve for decades. It’s a brilliant Pomerol in the making."

FALSTAFF: "Tiefdunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Tabakig unterlegte Edelholzwürze, schwarze Beeren, etwas Lakritze, Mokka und dunkle Kirschen. Stoffig, extraktsüß, präsentes, gut abgerundetes Tannine, feine Kräuterwürze, mineralischer Nachhall, frischer Nachhall."

ANTONIO GALLONI: "A heady, exotic wine, the 2018 Le Pin is rapturous right out of the gate. Waves of intense dark fruit cascade over the senses. The 2018 is a majestic, hypnotically beautiful Pomerol that really dazzles. Inky dark fruit, cherry, menthol, spice and chocolate are all fused together. The 100% new oak, a bit intrusive en primeur, has assimilated nicely. Time in the glass brings out exotic floral and spice notes. Le Pin is beyond my means, and probably beyond most readers' means, but it is undeniably great. And I mean great."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Tasted blind. Blackish crimson. High toned. Really very well composed with sweetness and tea leaves and no excess of tannins. Quite spicy. Smooth with a suggestion of cough linctus. Long."

JAMES SUCKLING: "The density and texture to this Le Pin is very surprising. It’s tannic and intense with an angular and stony-mineral undertone. Full-bodied yet energetic and edgy. Great structure. Reminds me of the great 1986."

THE WINEADVOCATE: "The 2018 Le Pin is made of 100% Merlot, picked the last week of September with yields of 30 hectoliters per hectare. The wine has a pH of 3.7, an IPT (total polyphenol index) of 70 and 14.5% alcohol. Deep purple-black in color, it is a little reserved to begin, offering glimpses of tar, fertile loam and truffles with slowly emerging notes of baked black cherries, stewed plums, mulberries and underbrush plus hints of black pepper, hoisin and chargrill with a waft of garrigue. Full-bodied, the palate is loaded with taut, muscular fruit and heaps of earthy accents, with a firm frame of ripe, rounded tannins and just enough seamless freshness, finishing very long and wonderfully savory."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Flowers, dried, red pit fruit and a touch of citrus open the nose. The wine is sensuous, even exotic in its texture. Medium-full bodied, there is a touch of chocolate making a cameo and the finish brings in tints of spice and citrus to the opulent red fruits. The wine was produced from 100% Merlot reaching 14.5% alcohol. Due to the higher level of alcohol, this year cultivated yeasts were used in the fermentation process for the very first time."

WEINWISSER: "100 % Merlot, 30 hl/ha, 14,5 % vol., pH 3,7, IPT 70. Sattes Purpurgranat mit violettem Rand. Was für ein berauschendes Parfüm, diese typisch verlangende, anregende Würze mit Rosenholz, getrocknetem Koriander und Hagebutten. Im zweiten Ansatz Wildkirsche, Graphitspuren und schwarze Oliven. Am Gaumen mit seidiger Textur, mächtigen und verlangenden Tanninen gepaart mit genial stützender Rasse und dunkler Mineralik. Im katapultartigen Finale ein Feuerwerk von getrockneten Himbeeren, parfümiertem Pfeifentabak und Damassine. Das ist ganz grosses Le Pin-Kino, ganz nah an der Perfektion und auf direktem Weg zur Traumnote."