You would think there is Cabernet Franc in here! So savoury and complex with olive and oyster shell alongside rich, dense fruit. Dances in the mouth, so powerful but so weightless. A dream of a wine. The finish is absolutely endless! - April 2019

A heady, exotic wine, the 2018 Le Pin is rapturous right out of the gate. Waves of intense dark fruit cascade over the senses. The 2018 is a majestic, hypnotically beautiful Pomerol that really dazzles. Inky dark fruit, cherry, menthol, spice and chocolate are all fused together. The 100% new oak, a bit intrusive en primeur, has assimilated nicely. Time in the glass brings out exotic floral and spice notes. Le Pin is beyond my means, and probably beyond most readers' means, but it is undeniably great. And I mean great.

The blackberries, iron shavings and black olives on the nose are captivating. Full-bodied with lots of toffee and smoky undertones to the ripe and round tannins. Very exciting and flavorful with softness and beauty. Drinkable now, but better in two or three years.

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. - www.decanter.com, Jane Anson, March 2019

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.

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. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, April 2019, The Wine Advocate

Tasting the 2018 Le Pin from barrel, I was intrigued by its Left Bank–like personality on the nose. Now in bottle, though it is not as obvious as before, it still flirts with Médocian traits thanks to its very attractive, very subtle graphite and marine scents. It has wonderful delineation, pixelated and focused. The palate is medium-bodied and demonstrates a touch more tannic spine. Wonderfully focused and detailed, maybe a touch spicier than recent vintages, with disarming harmony and effortlessness. It is self-aware that it is a great Le Pin.

Flowers, dried, red pit fruit and a touch of citrus open the nose. The wine is sensuous, even exotic in its texture. Medium-full bodied, there is a touch of chocolate making a cameo and the finish brings in tints of spice and citrus to the opulent red fruits. The wine was produced from 100% Merlot reaching 14.5% alcohol. Due to the higher level of alcohol, this year cultivated yeasts were used in the fermentation process for the very first time. Tasted April 2019

Intensely perfumed with a complex combinaton 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. Julia Harding, jancisrobinson.com, April 2019

Le Pin 2018 has a deep garnet purple color. It opens with notions of cedar, blackcurrants, and plum preserves, giving way to sandalwood, anise, and dried roses, plus a hint of cinnamon stick. The medium to full-bodied palate is very perfumed and elegant, with layer upon layer of black fruits and exotic spices plus ultra-plush tannins and seamless acidity, finishing very long and fragrant. WOW.
Tasted Feb 2023 - Lisa Perrotti-Brown The Wine Independent