Elite Traveler March-April 2015

GERRARD BASSET FAMILY TREE

bought half of the shares from his uncle while the rest were bought by his cousin, Alexandre. In 1979, the land was already a vineyard and the wine made from it was blended with other wines, but that wine never achieved international recognition. Therefore, Jacques decided to start his Pomerol project with a clean sheet. He called his wine Le Pin (the Pine Tree), as one prominent pine tree stood on the edge of the property. Even though, the vineyard was small and did not yield many cases, Jacques was determined the wine would stand on its own. He did not know exactly what he could make from this small vineyard, but while Jacques did not have ridiculous ambitions for his wine, he nevertheless wanted to produce a high-quality wine he would be proud of. Jacques’s philosophy has always been uncompromising in terms of quality. The vineyard is planted with the Merlot grape variety and the aim is to harvest healthy grapes, ripe but not over ripe, and make the wine in the best possible conditions but without being over manipulated. Le Pin is fermented in small stainless steel tanks, then aged in new oak barrels, fined, but not filtered. Great care is taken to express its unique terroir and make a very harmonious and elegant wine. As proof of this uncompromising quest for quality, in 2003, a challenging year, Jacques was unimpressed with the quality of his grapes and decided not to release Le Pin 2003. A brave, honorable decision, but a costly one. The early years were tough as Jacques could not afford to buy all the materials he wanted nor to build a sophisticated winery. He had to be precise and meticulous in his work in his vineyard and extremely resourceful in his makeshift winery, which he slowly improved and modernized as time went by. Finally, in 2011, Jacques inaugurated a brand new winery. Fairly early on, Le Pin came to the attention of the wine critics. To begin with, while positive, the

comments and marks were measured, but it quickly gained high scores from the most influential of them all, Robert Parker. Coupled with its small production (fewer than 10,000 bottles a year), the price rose considerably and Le Pin is now one of the most expensive wines in the world. What strikes you when meeting Jacques Thienpont is that despite making a delicious wine, Jacques remains completely unfazed by all of the razzmatazz. He is charming, friendly and unpretentious. When you taste his wonderful wines, he never tries to impose his views; in fact Jacques is a man of few words, but the little he says is always pertinent. His Scottish wife Fiona is a serious wine professional in her own right; she became a Master of Wine in 1994. As well as being involved with the promotion of Le Pin, she is a contributor for many wine magazines. Le Pin 2010 Medium-deep ruby color with a purple rim, superb nose of berry fruit, especially blackberry and blackcurrant, combined with lovely touches of praline, energetic palate, but with perfectly ripe tannins and a superb espresso finish. 98pts Le Pin 1990 Medium-full garnet color with a maturing rim, stunning nose of black plum, very sweet blackberry, wild spices and cigar box, round on the palate with smooth tannins and a wonderful mocha finish. 97pts Le Pin 1984 Medium-garnet color with an amber rim, lovely nose of dried fruit, tobacco, supple on the palate with silky tannins and a long spicy finish. 92pts TOP TIPS Tasted recently, these wines were superb. The 2010 is a “baby” and will age for years, the 1990 will still carry on for many more years and while 1984 is not regarded as a great vintage, it was surprisingly alive and delicious. TASTING NOTES

For more than 50 years Chateau Le Pin made wine. Then along came the Thienpont family and within 30 years, these few hectares of land were producing some of the most expensive wines in the world. Gerard Basset tells the tale behind the Pine Tree

In 1979, when Jacques Thienpont bought a small plot of land in the famed appellation of Pomerol in the Bordeaux region of France, he doubtless never envisaged that the wine he would produce from the vineyard would become one of the most revered wines on the planet. At the time Jacques Thienpont was a young man working for his family company in Belgium. The Thienponts had been in the business of importing wine for many generations. Some family members owned wine estates in Bordeaux, most notably Vieux Château Certan, also in the Pomerol area. Jacques did not have enough money to purchase the land, so he teamed up with two members of his family; his father Marcel and his uncle Gérard. A few years later when his father died, Jacques acquired his shares to increase his holding and then his uncle decided to sell his shares as well. Jacques

“Despite making a delicious wine, Jacques Thienpont remains completely unfazed by all of the razzmatazz”