Le Pin· Pomerol
About the domain.
Barely more than two and a half hectares, a vineyard you could walk across in a few minutes, and yet Le Pin sits among the rarest names in Bordeaux. Jacques Thienpont bought the parcel in 1979 and, against every convention of the time, treated it like a grand cru of Burgundy: tiny, hand-made, uncompromising.
The wine is almost pure Merlot, raised in entirely new oak and produced in quantities that disappear the moment they are released. There is no grand château here, no second wine to dilute the focus, only this one extraordinary expression of clay and iron-rich gravel.
I receive a fraction of what I request, and I have made my peace with that. To open a bottle of Le Pin is to taste Merlot pushed to its most concentrated and most seductive. It rewards patience, and it rewards those who do not need to be told what they are drinking.
Partial allocation.
Received a fraction of what was ordered. The wine is Merlot at its most concentrated.