Wine Advisor
Le Pin 1990
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1990 is a focused and richly extracted wine, with impressive persistence and depth. It also exhibits a flamboyant nose of exotic spices, black fruits, and smoky new oak. The voluptuous texture that has turned this wine into a cult item is present, along with a smashingly intense, opulent finish with enough tannin to suggest that 10-15 years of aging is possible. But who can resist it now? This is the finest Le Pin since the 1982 and 1983. And remember, I have a tendency to under-estimate this wine when it is young! Anticipated maturity: Now-2007. Last tasted, 1/93.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Last Tasted 8/92 A review of my tasting evaluations of Le Pin over the years reveals that I have consistently upgraded the wine after it has had 2-5 years of bottle age. That being said, this is the highest rating I have given to such a young Le Pin, which is among the most flamboyant and dramatic wines made in Bordeaux. For that reason it is likely to attract criticism from those who prefer a more subtle and restrained style. The 1990 exhibits a smashingly intense, smoky, exotic nose of sweet jammy fruit, new oak, and a multitude of spices. The wine offers exceptional opulence, a creamy texture, and gobs of rich, sweet fruit and oak. While there is plenty of tannin, it is not easy to find given the wealth of fruit extraction. This full-bodied, remarkably lush example of Le Pin is showing exceptionally well after bottling. Drink it over the next 10-15 years.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Though the Le Pin 1990 is deeper in colour than the 1989, you can immediately observe that the aromas feel slightly more advanced with scents of fig, brown sugar and mushroom embroidered into the black fruit. The palate has a touch more viscosity than the 1989, although it does not possess quite the same laser-like focus or the complexity. Still, if you prefer a more opulent, buxom Pomerol that personifies the word "sexy", then the Le Pin 1990 delivers...and then some. Indeed, the sweetness on the finish is almost redolent of the New World, Sonoma rather than Napa! Superb. Tasted December 2013.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1990 Le Pin has more in common with the 1982 than most wines of this vintage. This wine exhibits concentrated fig, blackberry, creme de cassis, kirsch, roasted coffee, herb, and spice box characteristics, and incredible amounts of glycerin as well as velvety tannins. Still tasting like an adolescent, it rocks and rolls across the palate in a glorious manner. Anticipated maturity: now-2025. Release price: ($5000.00/case)
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 1990 is a more focused and more richly extracted wine than the 1989, with impressive persistence and depth. It also exhibits a flamboyant nose of exotic spices, black fruits, and smoky new oak. The voluptuous texture that has turned this wine into a cult item is present, along with a smashingly intense, opulent finish with enough tannin to suggest that 10-15 years of aging is possible. But who can resist it now? This is the finest Le Pin since the 1982 and 1983. And remember, I have a tendency to under-estimate this wine when it is young! Anticipated maturity: Now-2005.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
One of the wines of the vintage? An outrageous nose of cherries, strawberry jam and unrestrained glycerin. Palate is pure extracted nectar - silky tannins, jammy chewy red fruits. A seamless wine that is proud, flash and ostentatious. Tasted alongside Petrus 1990 at the Tommy's charity dinner, they could not have shown more differently. For those who like this style it would be a perfect wine, but for me, Petrus showed its breed: more sublime and more intellectual. Tasted March 2000.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
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 quality, comparisons are indeed tedious. Both are exceptional vintages, and the scores could easily be reversed at other tastings. The 1989 is slightly tighter, with more noticeable tannin than the softer, lower-acid 1990. Both take flavor intensity and exoticism to the maximum. The huge, coconut, exotic spice, jammy black fruit, sweet, expansive flavors of these two vintages of Le Pin are to die for. The oak in both wines is more well-integrated than it was only a year ago, and thus the wines no longer seem disjointed. At present, the 1990 reveals a more expansive, chewier texture than the more firmly-structured 1989, but both wines are decadently rich, hedonistic, and opulently textured. I realize the pricing of Le Pin (can a top vintage of this wine really be selling at $4000 a bottle?) precludes most rational people from purchasing it, yet forgetting the hoopla and surreal pricing, these are great wines that are capable of two decades of cellaring. I would opt to drink them earlier rather than later. The 1990 should be drunk over the next 12-15 years .
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Tasted 4 Times Since Bottling With Consistent Notes The 1990 Le Pin is a well-focused, richly extracted wine, with impressive persistence and depth. It also exhibits a flamboyant nose of exotic spices, black fruits, and smoky new oak. The voluptuous texture that has turned this wine into a cult item is present, along with a smashingly intense, opulent finish with enough tannin to suggest that 10-15 years of aging is possible. But who can resist it now? This is the finest Le Pin since the 1982 and 1983. And remember, I have a tendency to under-estimate this wine when it is young! Anticipated maturity: Now-2005.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
For my taste one of the two finest Le Pins made to date, the 1990 wine is just starting to hit its adolescent stage and develop secondary nuances. Still a very deep ruby/purple with just a bit of pink at the rim, its explosive aromatics consist of Asian spice, kirsch, fig, blackberry, cherry, and smoky, toasty oak. In the mouth there are layers of concentration, glorious ripeness, copious glycerin, and a seamlessness that has to be tasted to be believed. This a voluptuously textured, full-bodied, remarkable wine that should still have a tremendous upside to it. Anticipated maturity: Now-2022. Last tasted, 12/01.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
I have a preference for the 1990 Le Pin over the 1989. The 1990 is a more focused and more richly extracted wine, with impressive persistence and depth. It also exhibits a flamboyant nose of exotic spices, black fruits, and smoky new oak. The voluptuous texture that has turned this wine into a cult item is present, along with a smashingly intense, opulent finish with enough tannin to suggest that 10-15 years of aging is possible. But who can resist it now? Anticipated maturity: 1993-2005.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
This is among the most profound Le Pins made to date. The wine exhibits a dense, dark ruby/plum color, a spectacular, hedonistic aromatic profile consisting of exotic spices, jammy kirsch and other black fruits intermixed with lavish quantities of pain grille. On the palate, the wine is a velvety-textured fruit bomb with layers of concentration, fabulous ripeness, copious glycerin, and well-integrated sweet tannin. It is a decadently rich, voluptuously-textured, full-bodied wine that is impossible to resist, even though it is still an infant in terms of development. Anticipated maturity: Now-2012. Last tasted 12/96
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Bipin Desai’s Le Pin vertical in Los Angeles. Not tasted since the millennium, this remains an outrageous Pomerol to die for. Decadent and ostentatious on the nose with sweet cassis and blackberry fruit, creme de menthe, hot bricks, a faint hint of cloves (not as much as the ’89) and utterly seductive. The full-bodied palate has layers of exotic, ripe black fruits, cooked meats, a touch of menthol and just a hint of VA. Incredible level of concentration and yet it is not blowsy and poorly defined in any way. It coats the mouth with its lascivious charm. Oh la la! Lovers of “classic” Pomerol will abhor it, but it actually resembles the Petrus ’90 more than I predicted. Try to taste this just once in your life! 700 cases released. Drink now-2020. Tasted November 2008.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at the Pomerol Comparative Exploration tasting in London, the 1990 Le Pin has a mature bouquet with singed leather, clove, smudged black fruit and mint, turning a little feral and animally in the glass. It does not have the sophistication of the 1989 Le Pin tasted alongside and felt unruly in comparison. That theme continues onto the palate is plush tannin, a mixture of black and blue fruit, slightly lower in acidity than the 1989 and yet utterly seductive. There is a giddy plushness to this Pomerol, deep and enveloping, yet with 26 years on the clock, it has lost some of the tension that I found ten or fifteen years ago. It is as if this Le Pin has just decided to let it all hang out in middle age, no longer desires to keep up with the likes of Lafleur or Petrus. Nevertheless, it remains just one gorgeous Pomerol from Jacques Thienpont.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Moderately saturated deep ruby. Exotic aromas of game, toast, black fruits and herbs. Very ripe and sweet but not currently displaying the layered texture or sheer opulence for which this tiny Pomerol has gained a cult reputation. In fact, this is quite structured for Le Pin, with a firm tannic underpinning—in style reminiscent of the '86.
About the Producer
Le Pin is the most expensive wine in the world. Jacques Thienpont purchased the meagre 1.6 hectares of land for one million francs in 1979. The Thienpoints named their wine Le Pin after a solitary pine tree that shaded the property. By acquiring tiny adjoining plots of land, Jacques has doubled the size of Le Pin to five acres. The south-facing vineyard on a well-drained slope of gravel and sand is planted with Merlot (about 92%), and a small amount of Cabernet Franc. Le Pin's soil is a mixture of gravel and clay with a little sand and is exceptionally low yielding (between 30 to 35 hl/hc). The grapes are hand-harvested and are fermented in stainless steel before being matured in`200%` new oak barriques for between 14 and 18 months. Dany Rolland, wife of cult-oenologist Michel Rolland, is a consultant here. Le Pin produces just 600 to 700 cases each year (Lafite Rothschild produces approximately 29,000 cases of wine a year and and Pétrus about 4,000) and its rarity is one of the driving forces behind its high prices. Le Pin produces super-concentrated, decadent, lush and lavishly oaked wines - they can be drunk young but are best with 7-10 years of bottle ageing.
1985(1)1986(1)1988(1)1989(1)
Package Size
