A very special ex-cellar release: Le Pin

Before Covid, in late 2019, Jacques Thienpont and his wife Fiona Morrison MW visited Singapore.  We hosted a very special Paulée style dinner at Les Amis to introduce them to some local wine collectors and share outstanding bottles.  Since then, having seen the Singapore enthusiasm for actually opening and sharing the finest and rarest wines, we have enjoyed generous allocations of Le Pin, L’If and the family’s other wines.  Earlier this year we were thrilled to receive our first ever allocation of Trilogies by Jacques Thienpont.  Today we are beyond excited to launch a super-rare offer of Le Pin direct from the family’s cellars. 

Famously, Le Pin doesn’t have a chateau, otherwise, we would call this an ex-chateau release!

The Offer:
Offered subject to allocation and remaining unsold.  Available now from our Singapore cellars later in late 2023.

Le Pin 2020

$15,600 per case (1×3) OWC (w/ GST $16,848)

8 cases available

The 2020 Le Pin is magnificent. What a wine. Seamless and exotic, the 2020 races across the palate with sumptuous dark fruit and a whole range of rose petal, spice and hard candy overtones that build into the explosive mid-palate and finish. I especially admire how the 2020 opens with some aeration. New oak is down from 100% to 70%, which really allows the purity of the fruit to shine through. Yields were 30 hectoliters per hectare, down from the more typical 35 or so, but overall production for Le Pin in bottles is much lower, as about only half of the vineyards were used. The rest went into the second wine, with the exception of a small parcel that is being redeveloped. In short: What more can I ask from a wine? Nothing.

100/100 – Antonio Galloni / vinous.com

The 2020 Le Pin is a smaller production of 4,000 bottles this year, a combination of lower yields and half a hectare pulled up because of court-noué virus. There is also less new oak at 70% and it was bottled in June. It has a precocious and quite opulent bouquet with layers of pure black cherries, blueberry, crushed violet and a touch of freshly-tilled loam. The palate is medium-bodied with sculpted tannins, fleshy and poised, the new oak succinctly assimilated (an astute decision to moderate that) with a lick of Valrona chocolate towards the finish. Very persistent in the mouth, this is a superb Pomerol from the Thienponts.

96/100 – Neal Martin / vinous.com

Le Pin 2021

$13,500 per case (1×3) OWC (w/ GST $14,580)

8 cases available

The 2021 Le Pin is a delicate, refined wine that is still coming together in barrel. Bright saline accents and vivid floral aromatics lend energy to a core of red-fleshed fruit. The 75% new oak is expertly judged. Production is down quite a bit, about 14 barrels instead of the more typical 20 or so. The 2021 is a somewhat unusual, lighter style of Le Pin. I can’t wait to see how it ages.

94-96pts – Antonio Galloni

The 2021 Le Pin was picked from 25 September to 4 October at a respectable 35hL/ha. Jacques Thienpont remarked how Alexandre and Guillaume Thienpont had tended the vineyard so well throughout the year and for the first time they oversaw the vinification and the current élevage. It has a beautifully-defined bouquet, less ostentatious than recent vintages, unfurling with quite mineral-rich red and black fruit. The palate follows in a similar vein, a Le Pin imbued with a sense of athleticism, no excess fat, framed by fine tannins and a laser-focused finish. The terroir really shines through in 2021 perhaps more than in other feted vintages. Wonderful. This has 13.4% alcohol.

94-96pts – Neal Martin

Terms & Conditions:

Offer ends on Wednesday 23rd August 2023 l No further discount l Immediate payment required l Delivery fees ($32.40) waived for purchases above $500 before GST excluding airports | Cancellation of orders not allowed l Order/s to be collected/delivered within 1 month upon stock availability l Offered Ex-Singapore & subject to remaining unsold