We have been following the estate since the 2000 vintage and it just keeps getting better and better. Luc's side of the Thienpont family are 'garagistes'. His brother Jacques owns Le Pin (1.6Ha) in Pomerol. Clos des Quatre Vents occupies an even smaller 1.2Ha of superb deep gravel terroir on the croups of Margaux. Annual production is similar to that of Le Pin, so this is a rare bottle of wine (approx 600 cases are produced per annum). Major cru classes surround the Clos on all sides, yet Luc has not followed the garagistes' pricing strategy – this still offers lots of value for money.

Luc is a pragmatic man; he loves to be out in the vineyards. His devotion to his vines almost cost him an arm earlier this year when he had an accident with a pruning machine. Thankfully he has recovered well and he is back in his beloved vineyards. This is the essence of Clos des Quatre Vents. Lots of work in the vineyard ensures that the 80 year old vines produce healthy fruit, which in turn is gently vinified by Jacques Boissenot (consultant to all of the First Growths) to ensure an elegant wine with intensity, charm, and reflects its great terroir.

Value after all adds another level of subjectivity. 31 wines appeared in our lists and not one wine made it into all eight tasters’ selections. Haut Batailley and Clos des Quatre Vents both made the cut for 7 tasters, but failed to achieve the elusive full house.

There were strong showings from Langoa Barton, Lafon Rochet, Phelan Segur, Durfort Vivens, Lagrange, Moulin St George and the highly tipped Saint Pierre, but sadly we were not alone. Robert Parker has positively raved about Saint Pierre and our other surprise recommendation, Malartic Lagraviere. Huge scores from these two will probably push release prices to stratospheric levels...

Last night we were entertained by the charming and extremely generous Luc Thienpont and his delightful family. We were put through our paces with multiple blind wines. We started so well; we picked Clos de Quatre Vents 2001, sadly our luck and skill ran out after that. Clos de Quatre Vents 2002 and 2004 followed, both utterly delicious; a testament to the great terroir and exceptional winemaking here. Then came a wine from Luc’s cousin, Alexandre. This was unmistakably VCC, but the year had us guessing. After a little assistance we eventually arrived at 1970; still tasting so young. Finally, we were treated to a magnificent bottle from the vineyard of Luc’s brother Jacques. We again picked the estate (Le Pin), but with limited experience with mature vintages (this is not a wine the Justerinis team often drink...), we struggled to pick 1989 as the vintage. It was quite simply one of the very finest bottles any of the team had ever tasted. 

Many thanks Luc for an exceptional, extremely generous selection of wines and a wonderful evening; the perfect start to our week.