Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Blackcurrant and black cherry nuances on the nose, smells aromatic but delicate. Strong and intense straight away, you can feel the power here, but it’s cloaked in silk. Smooth and shiny, this is giving confidence and brightness with tang and bite, Gorgeous succulence and crunch but pure too. There’s no sun so you get layers of pixelation and nuance of flavour, hints of spice, coolness, tang and acidity. Taught and tense, strict almost, but you can feel the beginnings of it start to soften. A delicious, pure and straight wine that will be a beauty.
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James Suckling
A very pretty second wine with cherry, plum and mineral aromas and flavors. Medium body. Creamy, fine-grained tannins. Hints of crushed stone and peach stone. 59% merlot and 41% cabernet franc. Barrel Sample: 94-95
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Jeb Dunnuck
Stunning stuff, the 2021 Château Lafleur Les Pensées has the classic Pomerol sexiness and opulence that defines the vintage. Redcurrants, ripe red fruit, spice, chocolate, and a beautiful sense of minerality and earth all define the aromatics, and it's medium-bodied, with round, supple tannins, beautiful purity, and a gorgeous finish. It's the second wine of this estate but as good as just about every Grand Vin out there.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of raspberries, mulberries, iris and rose petals introduce the 2021 Pensées de Lafleur, a medium to full-bodied, supple and suave wine that's polished, pure and velvety, its sweet core of fruit built around lively acids and ultra-refined tannins, concluding with a long, precise finish.
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Vinous
The 2021 Les Pensées de Lafleur is a very pretty wine. Strong floral and spice notes give the Pensées tons of charm. Silky tannins reinforce a feeling of finesse that further adds to its immediacy and appeal. Succulent red cherry fruit, red plum, orange peel, cinnamon and cedar open with time in the glass. Bright acids reappear on the finish to round things out. More than anything else, it is the wine's balance that is most impressive. What a charmer. –Antonio Galloni
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A source of exceptionally sensual and glamorous red wines, Pomerol is actually a rather small appellation in an unassuming countryside. It sits on a plateau immediately northeast of the city of Libourne on the right bank of the Dordogne River. Pomerol and St-Émilion are the stars of what is referred to as Right Bank Bordeaux: Merlot-dominant red blends completed by various amounts of Cabernet Franc or Cabernet Sauvignon. While Pomerol has no official classification system, its best wines are some of the world’s most sought after.
Historically Pomerol attached itself to the larger and more picturesque neighboring region of St-Émilion until the late 1800s when discerning French consumers began to recognize the quality and distinction of Pomerol on its own. Its popularity spread to northern Europe in the early 1900s.
After some notable vintages of the 1940s, the Pomerol producer, Petrus, began to achieve great international attention and brought widespread recognition to the appellation. Its subsequent distribution by the successful Libourne merchant, Jean-Pierre Mouiex, magnified Pomerol's fame after the Second World War.
Perfect for Merlot, the soils of Pomerol—clay on top of well-drained subsoil—help to create wines capable of displaying an unprecedented concentration of color and flavor.
The best Pomerol wines will be intensely hued, with qualities of fresh wild berries, dried fig or concentrated black plum preserves. Aromas may be of forest floor, sifted cocoa powder, anise, exotic spice or toasted sugar and will have a silky, smooth but intense texture.