*Chateau le Pin 1989

* Chateau le Pin 1989 Pomerol "It is a toss-up as to whether Le Tertre-Roteboeuf, Lafleur, or Le Pin is Bordeaux's most exotic and kinky wine. Le Pin has taken on a mythical reputation, as evidenced by the absurdly stratospheric prices top vintages tend to fetch. There have been some great vintages of this wine, which possesses one of the most dramatic and ostentatious bouquets of any Bordeaux. Additionally, the micro-production of 500-600 cases guarantees a chic rarity that has also helped propel the price to astronomical levels. When it is great (1982, 1983, 1989, 1990, and 1995), Le Pin provides one of the most gloriously hedonistic mouthfuls of wine produced in Bordeaux. Critics of Le Pin feel it is too obvious, too tasty, and perhaps not as long-lived as its near-by neighbors of Petrus, Lafleur, and L'Evangile. Yet my experience suggests Le Pin improves significantly in the bottle. Tasted just before or just after bottling, the wine can often reveal a blatant, aggressive oakiness that dominates the wine's fruit. After 5-6 years of bottle age, the toasty, pain grillee aromas become less aggressive and better-integrated in the wine's personality. This has happened with every vintage to date. With that in mind, I am not surprised by just how splendidly the 1989 and 1990 have turned out. Both wines appeared in the blind tasting in the same series as Petrus, and they were not out-classed. The 1990 Le Pin is a point or two superior to the 1989, but at this level of qu Read more…