CHÂTEAU LE PIN

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. Rating: 97-99 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (May 2019)

30 hl/ha, pH 3.7. Barrel sample. Intensely perfumed with a complex combination of red fruits, a hint of lovely leafiness or pencil shavings (not underripeness at all), and floral plus some dark fruits in this vintage. Then there's a slightly chocolatey note from the oak but very slight and not intrusive. On the palate, both dry and silky at the same time, fluent across the palate, with the lightest of tannic friction more like a matt texture. Intense and sweet-fruited on the palate, impressive concentration, the sweetness of pure fruit. Generous, inviting and glossy without being showy. (JH) Drinking range: 2028 - 2043 Rating: 18.5 Julia Harding MW, www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2019)

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. Rating: 97-99 Lisa Perrotti-Brown, RobertParker.com (Apr 2019)

Jacques Thienpont denies any trouble with mildew here this year. The wine is 100% Merlot, as always, and the yield a modest 30 hl/ha, bringing in fruit with thick skins and low volumes of juice, says Jacques. He likes to throw a few stems in if they are ripe, so he did in 2018, although the number was very small. The extraction was soft, with a gentle remontage, and no pigeage. As for the alcohol, this is 14.5%, and the pH 3.7. I find plenty of new barrel spice on the nose, with a little reductive matchstick note too, not an uncommon finding in this vintage. Alongside I see liquorice fruit, but otherwise it feels a little flinty and withdrawn. A very pretty and precise character follows on the palate though, in a very pure style, fresh and precise, with flavours of summer berries and red cherries, and with streaks of tobacco and cigar box coming from the new oak. It is all supported by a bed of svelte, charming and polished tannins. Long and rather elegant, with a polished substance and grip. Well done. Rating: 96-98 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (Apr 2019)

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 range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 98 Jane Anson, Decanter (Mar 2019)