1981 Château Le Pin

The 1981 Le Pin is a marvel to behold at 42 years of age, and I would argue superior to Petrus that year, having tasted that wine just a few weeks earlier. Showing modest signs of bricking at its rim, the bouquet is just beautiful: red fruit, sloes, shavings of black truffle and freshly rolled tobacco. Over the course of a couple of hours, it gains rather than loses vigor. The palate has admirable concentration, considering that this was not a benevolent growing season, quite full in the mouth with dark berries, tobacco, white pepper and clove. Very cohesive and even daring to fan out towards the finish, I hazarded a guess at the 1983 before Jacques Thienpont unveiled that it was two years earlier, his third vintage. Sublime, though nowadays, incredibly rare.