Château Le Pin is a mini château in the appellation Pomerol on the right bank of the Bordeaux area. It is considered a cult domaine and is highly sought after by wine collectors. Its minuscule production, which averages only 600 – 700 cases per year command prices which are even higher than Château Petrus, making it one of the most expensive wines from Bordeaux!
Madame Laubie and her family owned the small vineyard since 1924 but sold it in 1979 to the Belgian Mr. Jacques Thienpont. At that time the vineyard covered just 1 Ha. Today the vineyard has been extended to 2.7 Ha. The name has been derived from the two pine trees that grow on the domaine, near the winery. Almost exclusively, Merlot grapes are planted in the vineyard, with just a touch of Cabernet Franc and the average age of the vines reaches almost 40 years.
In 2003, there was no Le Pin produced because of the heat wave. The wines are extremely lush, concentrated and sometimes “exotic” and are drinkable at a very early stage. All the grapes are harvested by hand and matured in new oak for about 14 to 18 months.
A new high-tec winery was opened in 2011. They even produce a second wine called “Trilogie” in even smaller quantities. The price of this second wine easily surpasses that of the most other Pomerols produced, with an average of € 400 a bottle. Although Le Pin doesn’t have a long history, they produced some outstanding wines in especially the last two decades.
