Hawksmoor diner mistakenly served £4,500 Château Le Pin 2001

Hawksmoor restaurant in Manchester light-heartedly announced the mishap on its Twitter account.

‘To the customer who accidentally got given a bottle of Château Le Pin Pomerol 2001, which is £4500 on our menu, last night – hope you enjoyed your evening!’

It also told the member of staff who had made the error ‘chin-up’ and that ‘one-off mistakes happen.’

As reported by the BBC, the customer originally ordered the Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2001, a Pauillac wine, costing £260 on the menu.

It was not clear whether they had realised the mistake during the dinner.

Château Le Pin

Château Le Pin is one of the best-known names of Bordeaux, based in Pomerol.

The 2001 made it into Jane Anson’s top fine wines of 2019. She described it as ‘a wonderful vintage that was just melting into perfection.’

Its 2018 wine was one of Jane Anson’s top wines of the vintage, tasted en primeur.

In her 2018 tasting note, Anson said ‘The real difference with Le Pin and other 100% Merlot wines is the sumptuousness through the mid palate, it’s so wide and rich, you can’t just walk over it but lie down on it, feather pillow style.’

A case of six bottles of the 2001 vintage sells for upwards of £18,000 in bond.

Article updated on 17th May to include the original bottle ordered by the customer. Article updated December 2019 to include Anson’s fine wines of 2019 and 2001 tasting note. 

See also: Wine Legend: Le Pin 1982

See also: What wine to have with steak? Ask Decanter