Château Le Pin

Château Le Pin is situated on the outskirts of the hamlet of Catusseau, approximately one kilometre southwest of Vieux Château Certan, on Pomerol's central clayey plateau. The Laubie family owned the plot from 1924, selling the grapes anonymously in bulk to Bordeaux négociants. In March 1979, Marcel and Gérard Thienpont purchased the original one-hectare parcel for one million French francs, and their relative Jacques Thienpont, trained at a wine university in Bordeaux, took responsibility for the property and winemaking. The vineyard's soil is considered warm and ripens early, making Le Pin one of the first estates in Pomerol to harvest each year.

• Topsoil is primarily gravel mixed with clay and sand; the subsoil features two distinct layers, first rock and sand, then approximately 2.5 metres of clay mixed with iron-rich deposits known locally as crasse de fer
• The poor, unfertilised soils force vine roots to search deep for nutrition, naturally limiting yields to rarely more than 30 hectolitres per hectare and concentrating flavour compounds
• The south-facing, well-drained vineyard now covers 2.7 hectares in one contiguous block; only vines contiguous to the original estate are used for the Grand Vin
• Parcels not qualifying for the Grand Vin are vinified separately and blended across three vintages for a second wine called Trilogie, sold to private clients

Le Pin's winemaking is defined by minimal intervention, meticulous hand work, and a historic accident that became a house signature. In the early years, a shortage of fermentation tanks forced the team to complete malolactic fermentation in barrels rather than in vat. This technique, pioneered alongside consultant Michel Rolland from the 1979 vintage, proved highly successful and became standard practice at Le Pin from the 2004 vintage onward. Since 2011, a gravity-fed winery with small, temperature-controlled stainless steel conical vats has allowed precise parcel-by-parcel vinification. The estate has refrained from using pesticides from the outset, relying on natural techniques for soil cultivation.

• Hand-harvested in small crates with double sorting: first in the vineyard to eliminate unripe or damaged bunches, then on a sorting table at the winery
• Fermentation takes place in seven small stainless steel tanks ranging from 15 to 42 hectolitres, with all wine moved by gravity since the 2011 winery opened
• Malolactic fermentation in barrels, pioneered at Le Pin from necessity in 1979 alongside Michel Rolland, became standard practice from the 2004 vintage
• Aging in new French oak barriques for 15 to 18 months; the proportion of new oak has moderated in recent years to around 65 to 70% compared with the 100% used in earlier decades

Prior to the 1982 vintage, Le Pin was largely unknown outside Pomerol; early bottles even went unsold. Robert Parker's effusive praise for the 1982 transformed the estate overnight, and from that point Le Pin became one of the first non-First Growth Bordeaux wines to command First Growth prices, or higher. Parker awarded a second perfect score to the 2009 vintage, announced in 2012. On the secondary market, Le Pin regularly achieves per-bottle prices that rival or exceed Pétrus, despite producing far fewer cases. Its unclassified status within Bordeaux's formal hierarchy has done nothing to diminish its global prestige.

• 1982 vintage: 100 points from Robert Parker; the wine's third ever vintage and the one that introduced Le Pin to international collectors
• 2009 vintage: 100 points from Robert Parker, awarded in 2012; the second and most recent perfect score in the estate's history
• Production of 400 to 600 cases annually versus Pétrus's roughly 4,000 cases and Médoc First Growths at 20,000 or more cases, making Le Pin among the rarest classified-quality Bordeaux
• Le Pin is unclassified within the Bordeaux system; its reputation rests entirely on critical scores, secondary market performance, and collector demand

Le Pin demonstrates a commitment to quality over quantity that extends to declining to produce any wine in exceptionally poor years. In 2003, an extreme heatwave left the grapes in unacceptable condition and the vintage was abandoned entirely. The estate's warm, early-ripening terroir can be a double-edged attribute, excelling in balanced growing seasons but requiring careful management in extreme heat or drought. The house style has evolved from its early exotic, opulent character toward greater precision, though certain vintages such as 2010, 2016, and 2018 have been noted for returning to that distinctive hedonistic richness.

• No 2003 vintage was produced: extreme heat left grapes resembling dried prunes and Thienpont declined to bottle under the Le Pin name
• Among the most celebrated vintages: 1982, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023
• Optimal drinking window for top vintages is 10 to 35 years post-harvest; younger vintages benefit from 2 to 3 hours of decanting to open aromas
• The wine's warm, precocious terroir means harvest typically begins earlier than most Pomerol neighbours, requiring close attention to avoid overripeness

The Thienpont family's connection to Pomerol runs deep: an ancestor purchased Vieux Château Certan in the 1920s, and that estate remains in the family today. The original Le Pin parcel was purchased in 1979 by Marcel and Gérard Thienpont, with Jacques Thienpont taking charge of winemaking and sales. Over time Jacques expanded the vineyard through careful acquisitions of adjacent plots. His cousin Alexandre Thienpont, who manages Vieux Château Certan alongside his son Guillaume, has overseen the Le Pin vineyard. Since January 2022, Diana Garcia Berrouet, previously winemaker at Château Petit Village, has taken over as director of winemaking at Le Pin and also manages Jacques Thienpont's Saint-Émilion property, L'If. Guillaume Thienpont serves as winemaker.

• Marcel and Gérard Thienpont purchased Le Pin in March 1979; Jacques Thienpont, trained in Bordeaux, became responsible for winemaking and sales from the first vintage
• Alexandre Thienpont (manager of Vieux Château Certan) has overseen the Le Pin vineyard; his son Guillaume Thienpont now serves as winemaker
• Diana Garcia Berrouet appointed director of winemaking from December 2021/January 2022, having previously held the winemaking role at Château Petit Village
• The Thienpont family's broader Bordeaux holdings include Vieux Château Certan (Pomerol) and L'If (Saint-Émilion), the latter named to echo Le Pin's tree-naming tradition

Château Le Pin is widely regarded as a spiritual predecessor of the garagiste movement that swept Pomerol and Saint-Émilion in the 1990s. Its humble origins in a farmhouse basement, micro-production, and perfectionist quality standards established a template that dozens of micro-cuvées sought to replicate. Le Pin's unfussy label was famously designed by Jacques Thienpont himself at a local printer's counter. While the Thienpont family has consistently rejected the garage wine label, preferring to emphasise authentic terroir, Le Pin's trajectory from an obscure, hard-to-sell novelty to one of the most sought-after wines on earth remains one of Bordeaux's most remarkable stories.

• Considered a predecessor of the 1990s garagiste movement; its template of tiny production, new oak, and perfectionist standards was widely imitated across Pomerol and Saint-Émilion
• The first 1979 vintage sold for 100 French Francs per bottle and initially struggled to find buyers; today secondary market prices run to thousands of euros per bottle
• Two Parker 100-point scores (1982 and 2009) are the twin pillars of Le Pin's critical reputation; the 1982 alone is now traded for sums in excess of £80,000 per case
• Le Pin holds no official Bordeaux classification; its prestige derives entirely from scarcity, consistent critical acclaim, and collector demand