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The last wine of the day during our Pomerol tastings and what a way to finish. This is a sensational Le Pin and unquestionably our wine of the week. A wine of faultless composure, it is silky, graceful and despite its natural elegance has extraordinary intensity and length. The most beautiful wine of the vintage and an absolute joy to taste.
The last wine of the day during our Pomerol tastings and what a way to finish. This is a sensational Le Pin and unquestionably our wine of the week. A wine of faultless composure, it is silky, graceful and despite its natural elegance has extraordinary intensity and length. The most beautiful wine of the vintage and an absolute joy to taste.
The Le Pin was cropped between 1st and 3rd October at 32hl/ha and achieved a relatively high IPT of 77. After fifteen day fermentation and a short maceration it was run off into new barrels (Seguin Moreau and Taransaud) on 22nd October. It offers plenty of pure dark cherry, blackcurrant and cassis fruit on the nose with superb delineation and freshness. It opens wonderfully over five or ten minutes offering a subtle brine/black olive note, the oak deftly integrated into the fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with a hint of dark chocolate on the entry. There is good weight and tension although towards the finish there is a patina of wood that should be subsumed throughout its maturation. This strict, correct and upstanding Le Pin would benefit from a touch of flesh, but it is a stylish Pomerol for sure.
The 2012 Le Pin exhibits a surprisingly opaque purple color, moderately high tannin, deep mocha and jammy berry characteristics, unexpected headiness, an alcoholic blast and lots of glycerin and fruit. This beauty should come into its own in 4-5 years, and last for 15 or more. This 100% Merlot cuvee is a fresher, lighter-styled effort than this estate’s blockbuster 2009 and 2010, but it is surprisingly intense with plenty of weight, clout and class. Yields were a tiny 30 hectoliters per hectare (due to poor flowering and excessive drought), and the wine was produced from fruit harvested between October 2 and 5. Drink 2017 - 2032
Very uneven flowering, especially and typically for the older Merlot vines. Very very late harvest (1-3 October). 32 hl/ha, TA 3.3 g/l (sulphuric, ie 5.05 g/l tartaric), pH 3.8, IPT 77. New anti-fraud authentication device. Overall volume 10% down on 2011.Deep dark cherry colour. Extreme fruit purity, crunchy and deep, with a mineral edge and light earthiness to counteract the fruit sweetness. Generous but not fat or slouching. Shows its origin, the well-drained gravel soils, not just the high quality of the fruit. Dry finish but not at all drying. Long and delicious. Very hard to spit even though it is a little after 10 am. (JH) 13.5% Drink 2017-2027
Features beautiful raspberry fruit ganache, black licorice and linzer torte notes, with an underlying graphite edge running through the finish. Remarkably lush, lacking the rigid tannins of the vintage. Tasted non-blind. —J.M.
The small sub-region of Pomerol is situated north-east of the industrious city of Libourne. Pomerol's soils are predominately iron-rich clay with a smattering of gravel that produce wines with extraordinary power and depth. As a result of this clay-dominance, it has the highest percentage of Merlot planted in all of Bordeaux. Certain châteaux are produced exclusively from this grape, but most incorporate smaller quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc as well. Despite its hefty (if not exclusive) proportion of Merlot, many people think of wines from this region as separate entities. As one wine aficionado stated recently, "It's not Merlot. It's Pomerol." Despite the region's small size, Pomerol contains some of the world's most sought after (and expensive) wines including Pétrus, Le Pin, Lafleur, l'Evangile and Vieux Château Certan. Unlike other Bordelais subregions, there is no system of classification. The châteaux are traded on reputation alone.
