Wine Advocate
par Robert Parker le 28/02/1996
Served blind, it was interesting to pair the 1981 Le Pin with the 1981 Petrus. I remember how thrilling the 1981 Petrus was from cask, but it has never performed as well from bottle. I have continued to downgrade it. In this tasting, the wine exhibited an understated, light, washed-out personality, with vegetal cherry/coffee-flavored fruit in the nose intermingled with scents of spicy oak. Tart, lean, and austere, this is a Medoc-like tasting wine without any of the Petrus sweetness, chewiness, or unctuosity. This must be one of the most over-rated wines of the past two decades. As there was virtually no sediment in this 16-year old wine, I wonder if it was excessively fined and/or filtered?
The notes for this wine are taken from the description of Series IV - Flight A of the 1995 tasting conducted in Munich by Helga and Hardy Rodenstock.