Caramelized fruit, coffee bean, espresso, black cherry liqueur, licorice and spice aromas jump from the glass of this dark ruby/plum-colored wine. Concentrated and silky-textured, this full-bodied, voluptuous wine is a brilliant example of the 2011 vintage. Give it 2-4 more years in the bottle and enjoy it over the next 15 or more. - Robert M. Parker, Jr.

This is tightening up a little now, with a graphite edge holding sway over lightly mulled plum and boysenberry fruit, revealing a lovely tug of earth at the end. This has lost the caressing feel of its youth and picked up the vintage's telltale briary edge, but the fruit is as gorgeous as always.—Non-blind Le Pin vertical (December 2015). Best from 2018 through 2030. – JM

This is extremely bright and exotic, with crushed berries, flowers, orange peel and strawberries. Full body with a super-refined tannin structure and gorgeous, subtle chocolate, coffee and orange peel with red fruits. You want to drink it now, but better in 2016.

The 2011 Le Pin is quite high-toned on the nose with pure black cherries, Seville orange mocha and fig, well defined and developing more pressed flower aromas with aeration. The palate is rounded and pure, velvety in texture, slightly lower in acidity than its peers but very harmonious with a touch of spice towards the finish. This seems to manifest more complexity with aeration with a prolonged spicy aftertaste. This is actually showing better than the bottle that I drank in 2020. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting. -- Neal Martin