Les Pensées, Pomerol, 2021

Name: Les Pensées, Pomerol
Brand: Château Lafleur
Price: 484.76 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

justerini & brooks tasting note

Omri described 2021 as a "vintage of work". This is not something the Guinaudeau clan are afraid of. Few teams are as well prepared, but even for the most meticulous, nature can sometimes present new challenges. In all they encountered 10 nights that required frost protection, but on the 6th of April, they noticed that the turbines were having no affect. It turned out that a 2 Km column of cold air (that originated in Greenland) was sitting over Bordeaux. The turbines were simply sucking more cold air down into the vineyards. Thankfully it wasn’t a hard frost, so the bougies deployed amongst the vines prevented any serious loss. and thankfully they worked; . Omri also defines 2021 as another "multi-vintage year". The first half of summer was oceanic and presented mildew pressure. It wasn't the heaviest rain, but it was unrelenting and required a lot of "gardening". When summer finally arrived, the team worked the soils helping oxygenate the vines. Finally, 2021 provided the opportunity to make wines with lift and elegance. We probably sound like broken records, but this is yet another impeccable range of wines from the Guinaudeau family estates, particularly for Grand Village (red and white) and Les Perrieres. Quite dramatic aromas. One is definitely back in Pomerol with suggestions of flowers and plums. Beautifully refined fruit, fleshy and ripe in the mid-palate, then returns to violets, cool earth notes and touches of nori. Although there's salinity, freshness and chalky tannins, this has a rounder profile (after the Perrieres) and doesn't quite possess the same snap and energy. Two very different expressions. 59% Merlot and 41% Bouchet (Cabernet Franc).

critic reviews

94/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,The Wine Independent

A blend of 59% Merlot and 41% Cabernet Franc (Bouchet), the 2021 Pensees de Lafleur is medium to deep garnet-purple in color. It needs a lot of shaking to wake up scents of juicy black cherries, raspberry preserves, and mulberries, opening out to reveal notes of allspice, red roses, and garrigue, plus a hint of bay leaves. Medium-bodied, the palate is tight-knit and refreshing, delivering an impressive intensity of mineral-laced, red berry flavors and soft, rounded tannins, finishing on a persistent, chalky note.

DRINKING WINDOW 2026 - 2043

date of review 04/2024

93/100Jane Anson,Inside Bordeaux

Unusually welcoming for a 2021, with red roses and peony aromatics. It has connected more squarely with its usual character after ageing, and is now showing the supple and enticing tannins of the châtaeu, with an expansion through the mid palate. Red cherry, pomegranta and blackberry fruit, with earth, iron, pomegranate, slate and lemongrass. No chaptilisation. Harvest September 28 to October 2. Merlot-dominant on clay-sand-gravel, classic Pomerol terroir.

DRINKING WINDOW 2026 - 2038

date of review 03/2024

92/100Neal Martin,Vinous

The 2021 Les Pensées, from the clay soils within Lafleur, has much more red fruit on the nose compared to the Perrières, still finely delineated with hints of graphite and pencil shavings infusing the fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-boned tannins, beautifully balanced, gently building in the mouth toward a finish that has impressive sapidity and cohesion. Long and tender, this is an outstanding articulation of its terroir in a more challenging, "non-solar" vintage. You could broach this in a year or two, though personally, I prefer to wait.

DRINKING WINDOW 2028 - 2048

date of review 02/2024

94/100William Kelley,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Aromas of raspberries, mulberries, iris and rose petals introduce the 2021 Pensees 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.

DRINKING WINDOW 2027 - 2047

date of review 02/2024