1999 Château Le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol, Bordeaux

Chateau Le Bon Pasteur

Château Le Bon Pasteur is a small Pomerol property that has been run by guru oenologist Michel Rolland and his wife Dany since 1978. Le Bon Pasteur's 7-hectare vineyard is located in the north-east of the appellation between the vineyards of L`Evangile, Gazin and Cheval-Blanc on the St.Emilion border. The vines have a high average age (40 years) and the vineyard is planted with 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Yields are tightly restricted and the grapes are picked only at optimum ripeness.

Le Bon Pasteur's grapes are hand-picked and are fermented in temperature-controlled-stainless steel vats. The wine is then matured in oak casks (80% new) for 18-20 months. It is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Le Bon Pasteur produce supremely well-balanced Pomerols that are supple and packed with juicy, lush Merlot fruit. They are approachable young but usually benefit from around 7-10 years of cellaring.

Pomerol

Pomerol is the smallest of Bordeaux's major appellations, with about 150 producers and approximately 740 hectares of vineyards. It is home to many bijou domaines, many of which produce little more than 1,000 cases per annum.

Both the topography and architecture of the region is unremarkable, but the style of the wines is most individual. The finest vineyards are planted on a seam of rich clay which extends across the gently-elevated plateau of Pomerol, which runs from the north-eastern boundary of St Emilion. On the sides of the plateau, the soil becomes sandier and the wines lighter.

There is one satellite region to the immediate north, Lalande-de-Pomerol whose wines are stylistically very similar, if sometimes lacking the finesse of its neighbour. There has never been a classification of Pomerol wines.

Recommended Châteaux : Ch. Pétrus, Vieux Ch. Certan, Le Pin, Ch. L’Eglise-Clinet, Ch. La Conseillante, Ch. L’Evangile, Ch. Lafleur, Trotanoy, Ch. Nenin, Ch. Beauregard, Ch. Feytit-Clinet, Le Gay.

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.