Le Pin, Pomerol 2005

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 2005 Le Pin is a very pretty wine, perhaps a bit more floral and savory and less opulent than it often is. Crushed raspberry, wild flowers, mint and dried herbs all lift from the glass effortlessly. Like most of its peers, the 2005 needs several hours of aeration to be at its best. It is an especially gracious, translucent wine that stands apart stylistically from the typically richer wines that have been made here.

Tasted at the Pomerol Comparative Exploration tasting in London, the 2005 Le Pin has never quite lived up to the billing when compared to other vintages from Jacques Thienpont's iconic Pomerol estate, yet that is begrudging what is still a gorgeous wine. It remains very youthful and limpid in colour. The bouquet is much more Burgundian than I anticipated with raspberry coulis and wild strawberry scents, fine mineralité and poise. With time there is more blue fruit emerging. The palate is sweet and candied on the entry, plush and sensual; saturated tannin with impressive depth. You feel that perhaps it just egged on a little too much in the winery at the expense of some sophistication and delineation. However, in terms of pure pleasure it is a delicious wine, albeit one with a hefty price tag.

Good deep ruby-red. Knockout nose combines black raspberry, licorice, tobacco, iron, minerals and flowers. Densely packed, juicy and floral if a bit youthfully musclebound; lovely minerality here. Finishes tight and long, with some oak yet to be absorbed. Today I don't find this wine's normal exuberance but then it's in cuve today and in a rather compressed state. By the way, Thienpont lists 2001, 1998, 1994 and 1990 as his favorite vintages for Le Pin.