Le Pin - Château Le Pin - Pomerol 2010

Vinous

96 / 100

par Neal Martin le 30/04/2020

The 2010 Le Pin is blessed with a supremely well defined and focused bouquet: red berry fruit, hints of star anis, black truffle and smoke that soar from the glass. The palate is very well balanced with fine grain tannins, a perfect line of acidity, very elegant in style with a precise, almost understated finish in context of the growing season. Outstanding. Tasted blind at Farr Vintners 10-Year On Bordeaux horizontal. Drink 2024-2050

Wine Advocate

100 / 100

par Lisa Perrotti-Brown le 05/03/2020

The 2010 Le Pin is made from 100% Merlot. Deep garnet in color, it bursts from the glass with unbridled, hedonic notions of baked plums, Black Forest cake, Chinese five spice and blueberry pie plus wafts of smoked meats, candied violets, dark chocolate and cigar box. Medium-bodied, the palate exudes slow maturing black and blue berry layers, framed by firm, oh-so-plush tannins and oodles of freshness, finishing with incredible length and depth. Already drop dead gorgeous, this beautiful baby has a very long life ahead!

Decanter.com

98 / 100

par Jane Anson le 30/01/2020

Laden with pleasure, this showcases an exuberant side of 2010, where the seductive, languorous beauty of Le Pin fully proves its worth. The emphasis is on powerful spices, chocolate pod and coffee bean, zaatar and anis. Powerfully concentrated and still fairly closed, you can approach now but it will need longer to fully open up, and as is so often the case with Le Pin, there are various things happening at once, with the silky exuberance a pleasurable misdirection away from the serious levels of tannin and power. Drinking 2025 - 2050

Wine Spectator

98 / 100

par James Molesworth le 31/03/2013

Delivers the distilled essence of raspberry and kirsch fruit, from the captivating aromas to the racy, palate-coating feel, echoing nearly endlessly through the finish. There's also notes of briar, lightly pebbly tannins and a lingering hint of allspice to give this a shimmering background effect. In the end, this is primarily about the stunning purity of fruit on display. Best from 2017 through 2040. –JM

Wine Advocate

100 / 100

par Robert Parker le 01/03/2013

Made from 100% Merlot (one percent for each rating point I’ve assigned), this wine is explosively rich and compelling. Dense plum/purple, it boasts the remarkable delineation and freshness that are hallmarks of this vintage. From a much smaller production than normal because of Merlot’s poor flowering, the very hot, dry growing and harvest conditions, this is a super-endowed, very rich Le Pin with its exotic new oak largely buried behind its extravagant concentration, power and richness. I don’t know what its natural alcohol level is, but I suspect it is pushing 15% in 2010. Rich, tannic, but exceptionally well-endowed, this is a sublime example of Merlot at its very finest. Forget it for 5-7 years (which is somewhat unusual for Le Pin) and drink it over the following three decades.

Wine Advocate

95 / 100

par Neal Martin le 15/02/2013

Jacques Thienpont has crafted an impeccable 2010 Le Pin. Cropped at 34hl/ha and offering 14.2% alcohol, it has a sumptuous bouquet of luscious blackberries and bilberries, crushed stone elements and a touch of cassis. It has certainly comes out of its shell since its showing in barrel. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a sweet core of boysenberry and dark plum fruit, fresh acidity and a silky smooth, quite precocious cassis-driven finish that is long and sensual in the mouth. This is a beautiful ’10 Pomerol that deserves a decade in bottle. Tasted November 2012

Jamessuckling.com

100 / 100

par James Suckling le 03/02/2013

Dreamlike deep nose with blackberries, graphite and some smoky notes. Opens with licorice, vanilla and red fruit. Full and intensely fruity on the palate with lots of dark berries. Complex, dense and deeply structured with polished tannins and a great finish that just goes on and on. The balance is amazing. Even better than 2009. Drink from 2018.

Wine Advocate

96-98 / 100

par Robert Parker le 31/05/2011

2010: The 2010 Le Pin is 100% Merlot, aged in 100% new oak, but the Thienponts never want to hear that this is one of those “cult wines.” It has been widely imitated by others thanks to its enormous success, and as I have written many times, it is a relatively exotic take on Bordeaux. The 2010 is the darkest colored Le Pin I have ever seen – black purple, no doubt due to tiny yields and the very small berries that were the result of the drought of 2010. Uber-concentrated, with fabulous cassis and black cherry fruit, licorice, and notes of subtle smoke and toast, the wine is full-bodied, with sweet tannin and remarkable thickness/unctuosity. It should prove to be one of the longest-lived Le Pins made in its first 30+ years of existence. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2030+. Drink 2015-2030

Asian Palate

94-96 / 100

par Jeannie Cho Lee MW le 24/05/2011

The gorgeous 2010 Le Pin offers aromas of blackberries, plums, cassis, spices and cedar, with a wide spectrum of subtle flavours, ranging from spices and Chinese herbs to plums and cedar. These flavours are enveloped in cashmere tannins, producing a wine of impressive intensity and subtlety ?and a very long finish. This is a wine for our grandchildren.

Le Point

17,5 / 20

par Jacques Dupont le 12/05/2011

Nez framboise, un peu éventé, bouche fraîche, veloutée, fine, élégante. Vin tendre, élégant, frais, tendu, joli fruit, très beaux tanins en milieu de bouche. O=2019 G=15 ans

Decanter Magazine

18,5 / 20

par James Lawther MW le 30/04/2011

Has all the charm of the '09 but to my mind a touch more vivacity and structure. Lifted Burgundian red fruit and spice aromas and flavour. Supple caressing fruit on the palate. Decadent sweetness on the mid-palate then long filigree tannins. Drink 2020-2035. (18.5 points)

TAST

19 / 20

par Bettane & Desseauve le 30/04/2011

Très loin de la suavité exacerbée des millésimes du début de la décennie, le-pin 2010 exhale effectivement un parfum éblouissant, mais dans un registre frais, floral et subtil, et développe une rondeur confortable, élégante, sans aucune lourdeur.

Jamessuckling.com

95-96 / 100

par James Suckling le 30/04/2011

This has muscles, with milk chocolate, plums and hints of wood. Very powerful, with lots of structure. It reminds me of the 1986 which is underrated and fabulous. A wine for aging. Super structured.

Wine Spectator

96-99 / 100

par James Molesworth le 30/04/2011

This is a stunning display of purity, with lush raspberry and boysenberry fruit, that never gets heady despite its obvious weight. Alluring spice and graphite notes flicker, but for now this is still exuberantly youthful and primal. And very, very long. Tasted non-blind. —J.M.

The Wine Cellar Insider

97-99 / 100

par Jeff Leve le 25/04/2011

Le Pin fills the room with pungent scents of oak, spice, exotic citrus oils, smoke, plums, fennel and fresh flowers. The wine drenches your palate with silky, velvet laced textures and waves of rich, ripe, sweet, pure extract of plum liqueur, Maraschino cherries and orange rind. The long, seamless, intense finish is pure decadence. Le Pin is one of the most interesting Pomerol wines to taste. Aside from amazing high prices, its main problem is, the wine lacks consistency. It doesn't always perform as one would expect. Yet, when it is on, Le Pin is a Pomerol without peer. 97-99 Pts

Jean-Marc QUARIN

19 / 20

par Jean-Marc Quarin le 11/04/2011

Ma meilleure note donnée à ce cru en primeur.Grand nez, éclatant et profond. En bouche, c'est du vison! Dense, complet, volumineux. Son fondant est exceptionnel. Vin long et très hédoniste. Il ne fait que 14° d'alcool. Sa buvabilité n'en sera que meilleure. 100% de merlot.