Le Pin 2021

James Suckling:

This is really pure and primary with very clean and bright aromas of crushed grapes. Minerally and floral with brightness and vividness. Just a hint of smoke and meat. Medium-bodied with a tight and poised center palate and a racy finish. Structured in a classic, great Bordeaux way. Needs five or six years to come together and soften, but this is seamless and wonderful. Drink after 2030 and beyond.

Vinous:

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. 

Wine Advocate Parker:

I tasted the 2021 Le Pin several times this spring, and on every occasion the wine showed brilliantly. Wafting from the glass with aromas of dark berries, plums, exotic spices, vine smoke and carnal nuances, it's medium to full-bodied, sumptuous and enveloping, with a velvety attack, supple tannins and a long, penetrating finish. Seamless and impressively concentrated, it demonstrates how precocious, well-drained sites such as Le Pin came into their own in the 2021 growing season. As usual, it's 100% Merlot, and this year it checks in at 13.4% alcohol.