Le Pin 1996

Like many 1996 Pomerols, there is certain austerity to the tannins, and the wines are not as generous and voluminous as they would be from a great right bank-vintage like the 1998 or 2000. Nevertheless, this is top-notch example, more stuctured than usual, but it still has the exotic notes of melted chocolate, roasted espresso, and a hint of coconut, and a plethora of jammy black fruits. Relatively supple, even for the vintage, this flamboyant, medium-bodied wine shows superb ripeness, purity, and overall balance with a bit of dry tannin in the finish. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2020. Last tasted, 5/02.

The 1996 Le Pin has softened since I first tasted it. In January, it was extremely open-knit, with a dark ruby colour, and evolved notes of roasted coffee, melted chocolate, exotic coconut scents, and jammy black cherry fruit. Round, soft, supple-textured, and medium-bodied, this is one of the most flamboyant yet evolved wines of the vintage. Will it firm up now that it has been bottled? There is very little production of the 1996 Le Pin since only one-third of the harvest made it into the final blend. Anticipated maturity: now-2012.

Only one-third of the harvest made it into the 1996 Le Pin, so this vintage will be even more impossible to find than usual. The wine exhibit an even denser, more saturated ruby/purple color than the 1995, as well as an exotic, unformed but flambloyant vanillin, pain grille, smoke, and jammy black cherry-scented nose. Ripe, dense, and atypically fleshy for a 1996 Pomerol, this is a sexy, medium-bodied, concentrated wine that should firm up before bottling and age nicely.