Chateau Le Bon Pasteur Pomerol Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Le Bon Pasteur Pomerol, Bordeaux wine producer profile, with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Le Bon Pasteur is owned and managed by Michel Rolland, the famous Bordeaux wine consultant. The history of Chateau Le Bon Pasteur dates back all the way to 1920 when it was purchased by Joseph and Hermine Dupuy. The tiny house, which is now used as the tasting room was already on the property, having been built in 1865. The Dupony family found the inspiration of forming Le Bon Pasteur, “translated into the good pasture” while working as sharecroppers for Chateau Gazin. At the estates genesis, the owners grew the grapes, but sold the harvest in bulk to negociants. At the time, the family was earning more money from their bakery! The Dupony family later passed Le Bon Pasteur on to their children, Serge and Geneviève Rolland.

In 1978, the Rolland family continued the tradition and gave Chateau Le Bon Pasteur to their children as well, Michel and Jean-Daniel Rolland. This gave birth to the modern era for Le Bon Pasteur and the start of the career for Michel Rolland. That all changed in May, 2013, when Bon Pasteur became to the first Asian investor to buy a truly legendary Pomerol estate. The property was sold to Sutong Pan. The Pan family will take over Bon Pasteur in time for the 2013 harvest.

The 6.62 hectare Right Bank vineyards of Chateau Le Bon Pasteur in the Pomerol appellation. Interestingly, a portion of Bon Pasteur is located in St. Emilion. This situation is not uncommon in Pomerol. In fact, L’Evangile and La Constillante both have vines in Pomerol. The Bon Pasteur vineyard is planted to 80% Merlot and the remainder Cabernet Franc. The terroir features gravel, sand and clay. The vines are planted at a density of 6,500 vines per hectare and are on average, 30 years of age.

At Chateau Le Bon Pasteur, all harvesting is done by hand on a plot by plot basis. The grapes are sorted twice, before and after de-stemming. Prior to 1987, the wine was vinified in concrete vats. That changed in 1987, when Michel Rolland renovated the wine making facilities of Le Bon Pasteur by adding 10, 70 hectoliter, stainless steel vats equipped with a system of thermoregulation. Michel Rolland was the first to install this equipment in the Pomerol appellation. The wine was most recently vinified in small vats ranging in size from 15 to 70 hectolitres until the 2010 vintage.

Starting with the 2010 vintage, Bon Pasteur changed their vinification techniques. The grapes are now fermented in barrel and put on an OXO line. The barrels are turned every 3 hours at the start of fermentation and less often by the end of the approximate 40 day maceration. Also starting in 2010, Bon Pasteur began including close to 30% whole clusters in the barrels. The long term results of this remains to be seen. Much depends on the degree of ripeness in the stems. If the stems are ripe, the potential for additional aromatic complexities with cedar and forest notes are possible.

On average, it takes 80 barrels to vinify each harvest. This technique results in quite a loss, as far as effective yields are concerned. By the time of bottling, on average, only 40 barrels of wine remains. Malolactic fermentaion. is preformed in oak barrels and the wines of Chateau Le Bon Pasteur are aged in 100% new French oak barrels. The wines remain the barrels for between 15-18 months in the same barrels that were used for malolactic fermentation. Chateau Bon Pasteur wines are bottled with no fining and unfiltered, if possible. Production averages close to 2,500 cases of Pomerol wine per vintage.

The wines of Le Bon Pasteur are ripe, rich and powerful. They are filled with sweet fruit, soft tannins and usually, low in acid. This Pomerol, Bordeaux wine is at its best between 10 and 20 years after the vintage.

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