Wine Advisor
Le Bon Pasteur 2014
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The Château La Bon Pasteur 2014 has a fragrant bouquet with blackberry, raspberry and a touch of black truffle: well defined and focused. The palate is full-bodied with saturated ripe tannin married with a keen line of acidity. This has volume and fruit intensity but there was a slight attenuation towards the finish that occasionally felt a little raw. This constitutes an early drinking Le Bon Pasteur, perhaps one that found it more difficult to overcome the deficiencies of that cool summer as other Pomerol crus on the gravel plateau. But it should drink well for a decade.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2014 Le Bon Pasteur is supple, open-knit and tasty. Super-ripe black cherry, smoke, mocha, tobacco and French oak give the wine its fleshy, seductive personality. The 2014 is not especially complex, but it is quite delicious. Tasted two times.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2014 Le Bon Pasteur has quite a perfumed, floral, pressed rose petal scented bouquet tinged with tobacco. The palate is smooth on the entry but there is a nagging greenness that hammers the finish and leaves a sour/bitter aftertaste. This is an odd showing. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2014 Bon Pasteur was tasted twice. The bottle at the UGC did not show its best, but a second in Pomerol was much better with clean and pure brambly red fruit on the nose laced with sandalwood and truffle. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannin, a "cool" Pomerol that has a little greenness towards the finish (which I noticed out of barrel). I actually appreciate this more classic style of Bon Pasteur, though it will benefit from a couple of years in bottle.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2014 Le Bon Pasteur has an oddly distant nose, with touches of blackberry, truffle and licorice. The palate is just distasteful and green but cooked at the same time. [Post-script - precisely the same element that I remarked upon in the previous Southwold in 2018.] This is not a Pomerol that I can recommend. There have been better vintages in recent years. Tasted non-blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting.
About the Producer
Château Le Bon Pasteur is a Pomerol estate, known for both the lush, supple quality of its wine and its history as the family property of the renowned wine consultant Michel Rolland. The seven-hectare (16-acre) vineyard is located on the boundary with Saint-Émilion and has a wide range of soil types. It is planted predominantly to Merlot, with 15-20 percent Cabernet Franc – exact proportions are hard to measure as some plots are mixed. Some of the vines were planted in the 1950s. The grapes are harvested by hand, and are fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. The wines are then aged in predominantly new French oak for around 18 months and bottled without fining or filtration. World-renowned winemaking consultant Michel Rolland took over the running of Le Bon Pasteur in 1978, although the estate had been in the family since 1920. It was sold to a Chinese investor in 2013, although Rolland remains as winemaker and estate manager.
