Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 01/01/2003 Some of the hard tannins this wine possessed early in life have sloughed off to reveal a wine that has a stunning nose of roasted herbs, caramel, smoke, barbecue notes along with fruitcake, blackberry, and black cherry jam, and a bit of white chocolate also entering the smorgasbord of scents. Full-bodied, with low acidity but still moderately high tannin, still a tightly knit, very concentrated wine that is surprisingly structured and backward for Le Pin. It is also a bit more massive than most vintages. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2025. Last tasted, 5/02. A dense ruby-colored Le Pin, the 1995 offers up aromas of lead pencil, roasted nuts, smoke, spice, fruitcake, and black cherries intermixed with white chocolate. Luscious and full-bodied, with low acidity, but plenty of grip and tannin in the finish, this wine, with its abundant cola, kirsch, and black raspberry flavors, is revealing far more structure since bottling than it did in cask. It appears to be every bit as structured and tannic as the 1996. The 1995 Le Pin will take a few years to come around. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2018. (93)

A dense ruby-colored Le Pin, the 1995 offers up aromas of lead pencil, roasted nuts, smoke, spice, fruitcake, and black cherries intermixed with white chocolate. Luscious and full-bodied, with low acidity, but plenty of grip and tannin in the finish, this wine, with its abundant cola, kirsch, and black raspberry flavors, is revealing far more structure since bottling than it did in cask. It appears to be every bit as structured and tannic as the 1996. The 1995 Le Pin will take a few years to come around. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2018.

Tasted blind at the CECWINE 1995 horizontal and following Ausone and Cheval Blanc. The nose seems to lack intensity. Sweet raspberry and strawberry. Lacks complexity, almost Burgundian in style. The palate lacks tannic structure and weight on the mid-palate. Linear, this does not explode on the palate like the previous two wines. Still quite a primal wine, but it lacks typicity. An unengaging wine. Drinking now. Tasted again at the Saint Julien restaurant in April 2006. A crimson core with signs of maturity on the rim. The nose is quite muted at first, then ripe raspberry, wild strawberry and vanilla emerge. The typical soft, cashmere mouth feel that Le Pin does so well, yet similar to my first encounter which was blind, it lacks complexity or profundity. Beautifully balanced, but there is little beneath that seductive sheen. More a study of winemaking than wine.