Wine Advisor
Le Bon Pasteur 2021
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
One of the most brutally oaky and extracted wines I tasted while spending over a month in Bordeaux, the 2021 Bon Pasteur exhibits aromas of berry liqueur, rich spices and creamy new oak, followed by a full-bodied, bitter and astringent palate that assaults the tongue and gums with vigor. In a ripe vintage, the quality of tannins can somewhat mitigate this old-fashioned style of winemaking, but in a less propitious year such as 2021, the results are disastrous.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2021 Le Bon Pasteur has a very well-defined bouquet of clean and pure fruit, notably lively compared to others and far removed from the occasionally turbo-charged aromatics of previous decades. The palate has sufficient fruit on the entry—blackberry and raspberry. Quite structured at the moment, the tannins just clip the finish, but they certainly don't dry it out. It just requires three or four years in bottle for it to cohere.
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.
