France · Bordeaux

Le Pin

Le Pin is the original micro-château of Pomerol, founded in 1979 when Jacques Thienpont purchased a tiny 2.3-hectare parcel of the Pomerol plateau from the Laubie family. The vineyard sits on a particularly clay-rich pocket of the plateau close to Vieux Château Certan — the Thienponts' other Pomerol estate — and produces a Merlot-dominant wine of extraordinary concentration and sensory impact. First produced from the 1979 vintage, Le Pin initially attracted little attention before Robert Parker's effusive praise in the early 1980s triggered a demand explosion that has never abated. The wine became the template for the garage wine movement and helped establish the equation of tiny production equals stratospheric price. Annual production is approximately 500–700 cases. Across 410 auction lots, Le Pin averages $3,017 per bottle — among the highest averages for any wine tracked on this platform — with a ceiling of $57,360 for large-format older vintages. Key benchmark vintages include 1982, 1983, 1990, 2000, 2009, 2010, and 2019.