Vinous - Score: 94 (43132)

Tasted at the Pomerol Comparative Exploration tasting in London, the 1990 Le Pin has a mature bouquet with singed leather, clove, smudged black fruit and mint, turning a little feral and animally in the glass. It does not have the sophistication of the 1989 Le Pin tasted alongside and felt unruly in comparison. That theme continues onto the palate is plush tannin, a mixture of black and blue fruit, slightly lower in acidity than the 1989 and yet utterly seductive. There is a giddy plushness to this Pomerol, deep and enveloping, yet with 26 years on the clock, it has lost some of the tension that I found ten or fifteen years ago. It is as if this Le Pin has just decided to let it all hang out in middle age, no longer desires to keep up with the likes of Lafleur or Petrus. Nevertheless, it remains just one gorgeous Pomerol from Jacques Thienpont.