Chateau Le Pin - Le Pin - Ex Chateau 2023

WEINWISSER: "100 % Merlot, 39 hl/ha, 14 Vol.-%. Sehr komplexes erhabenes Bouquet, Wildkirsche, Graphitnote und edle Cassiswürze. Im zweiten Ansatz verführerisches Veilchenparfüm, roter Johannisbeernektar und edler Eisenton. Am sublimen Gaumen mit seidiger Textur und engmaschigem Tanningerüst, feingliedrig femininer Le Pin, unglaublich dicht und lang haftend bleibend. Im katapultartigen, nicht enden wollenden Finale rote Beeren, Waldhimbeeren, tiefschürfende Terroirwürze und wiederum schwarze Johannisbeeren. Ganz großer eleganter Le Pin, der mich völlig in seinen Bann gezogen hat. Der beste Wein des rechten Ufers."

FALSTAFF: "Kräftiges Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Zart floral unterlegte frische rote Kirschen, zart nach Lakritze, ein Hauch von Gewürznelken, etwas Ribisel, Mandarinenzesten sind unterlegt, sehr delikates Bukett. Saftig, elegant, komplex, cremige Tannine, feine dunkle Kirschfrucht, anhaltende Extraktsüße, Brombeeren im Abgang, zeigt eine seidige Textur, bleibt minutenlang haften, dunkelbeeriger Nachhall, feiner Schokoladetouch, bleibt minutenlang haften, eine Art Musigny aus Bordeaux, große Klasse."

JAMES SUCKLING: "Shows the exotic nature of Le Pin with blackberries, milk chocolate and hints of spices, as well as coffee beans from the ripe seeds in the grapes. It's medium-bodied with focused and creamy tannins. Also plenty of nectarine and clementine character. This is so classic Le Pin at the finish. It lasts for minutes in your mouth. Silky and flavorful. 100% merlot magic."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "Le Pin 2023 is 100% Merlot and it has a pH of 3.75. It is aging in 65% new oak barriques and it has a deep garnet-purple color. It is quite shy and whispery to begin, offering glimpses at floral notions of wisteria and red roses, leading to spicy notes of cinnamon and clove, before opening out to a powerful core of wild blueberries, juicy blackberries, and black raspberries, with an underlying waft of forest floor. The medium to full-bodied palate is electric, delivering vibrating notes of black berries and purple flowers, framed by super-fine-grained tannins and amazing tension, finishing on a lingering, ferrous note. Magic!"

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Quite floral in nature, it is the vivacious nature, sensuality, and freshness in the fruits that stand out. Picture, velvety-textured, black plums with dark chocolate, saffron, orange peel, cumin, and black raspberries that caress and paint your palate with layers of fruit. There is a sublime sense of purity, paired with elegance and vivacity that sticks with you in the precise finish for close to 60 seconds. Produced from 100% Merlot, 14.4% ABV, 3.77 pH, the harvest took place September 6 - September 17. Yields were only 29 hectoliters per hectare. Drink from 2026-2055."

DECANTER: "A floral and opulent nose; irises, and strongly-scented dark fruits - plums, blackcurrants and black cherries. Really very expressive aromatics, opulent and forward. Smooth and silky, really caressing and gentle, smooth and delicate, the power is there underneath but subtly while the ripe dark black and cool blue fruit makes most of its mark. The florality and clear iron (really accentuated in a cool vintage) is fully apparent, minerality is also very present with black sticky, spicy liquorice and graphite. It’s a more serious Le Pin, certainly than the 2022, this has muscle but slightly hidden, it’s firm and nicely structured but has edges of spice, tobacco and dark chocolate as well as bite and tang but all with an elevated elegance. Serious but sophisticated and confident. Ageing 65% new, 35% once used barrels. Instead of 100%. Extracted one third less this vintage. 3.75pH."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "The 2023 Le Pin is another strong effort for this small Pomerol winery, wafting from the glass with aromas of wild berries, violets, exotic spices and creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, polished and suave, it's velvety and refined, with attractive purity of fruit, lively acids and a long, gently vanillin-inflected finish. It's the result of multiple harvests, starting with young vines, between September 11 and 23."

JEB DUNNUCK: "From a tiny parcel of deep, gravelly soils (2-3 meters) on top of clay, the 2023 Château Le Pin is all Merlot that today is raised in two-thirds new oak. This beauty has a gorgeous perfume of spicy red fruits, smoked tobacco, spicy oak, and savory flower and tobacco nuances. This carries to a medium to full-bodied Le Pin that has the château's sexy, seamless mouthfeel, solid ripeness, building, silky tannins, and a kiss of minerality on the finish. It shines for its purity and finesse and has plenty of classic Le Pin magic."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Subtle red-berry fragrance. A refined and more discreet Le Pin this year. Sweet and smooth but light of touch and linear as well. No excess. Tannins well integrated. Drink 2031 – 2045"