Château Lafleur

Les Pensées, Pomerol, 2023

Name: Les Pensées, Pomerol
Brand: Château Lafleur
Price: 466.37 GBP

93/100

Inside Bordeaux

94-96/100

The Wine Independent

92-94/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

delivery

in bond

Broking

2023
3x75cl
DP
£466.37

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Omri explained 2023 is "not a solaire vintage, it’s not a “classical” cool vintage, it’s not another hybrid vintage like 2016, 2018 or 2020 with a wet, cold spring and then a very hot, dry summer… The best we’ve come up with so far is it’s an extreme vintage with no real extremes… It felt extreme when we were working in the vineyard, it was challenging and complex, but when we look back at the data, it was quite unremarkable.” The wines they have produced certainly are remarkable and very much appeal to our palates. They are dense, but less overly fruity than recent greats like 2019 and 2022. They have wonderful aromatics and bright, tense cores of fruit framed by gloriously ripe tannins packed with detail. It's a masterful range, which sits right up there with the very best from these estates. The 2023 Pensées is one of the most enthralling examples of this cuvee we can recall tasting. Produced from 70% Merlot and 30% Bouchet this has all the usual charm with a more complex, serious character. Initially floral with salty, earthy notes. So silky, contoured rather than voluptuous, refreshing dark berries and griotte with layers of earth and stones, a very serious, controlled Pensées with a tear drop shaped finish, hints of coffee beans, cacao and flowers. Very smart indeed.

delivery information

GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

94-96/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

A blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Bouchet (Cabernet Franc), the 2023 Pensees de Lafleur has a deep garnet-purple color. It needs a swirl or two to spur it on to gallop out with powerful notes of juicy black plums, wild blueberries, and raspberry preserves, leading to an undercurrent of wood smoke, charcoal, bay leaves, and Sichuan pepper. The medium-bodied palate is light on its feet and beautifully poised, with very fine, silky tannins and alluring freshness, finishing very long and earthy.

drinking window 2029 - 2050

date of review 05/2024

93/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

Unusually high Merlot for Pensees, this combines gorgeously rich texture with mouthwatering salinity on the finish, moving through plump and plus black cherry and raspberry fruit. The team here always knows how to skilfully construct a wine, and this picks up concentrated notes of fennel and mint that raise the game. 25% new oak for ageing.

drinking window 2028 - 2040

date of review 05/2024

92-94/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2023 Les Pensées contains more Merlot this year, at 70% of the final blend. It was picked between September 7 to 17. This has another very minerally bouquet, well-defined, quite nervy and focused, with a subtle marine influence. The palate is medium-bodied with impressive concentration and freshness on the entry. Black plum and a touch of dark chocolate come through, framed by a slightly granular texture. Cracked black pepper emerges on the structured but not heavy finish. Excellent.

drinking window 2027 - 2042

date of review 04/2024

product details

Specifications

Country:

Region:

Appellation:

Producer:

style:

Grape Variety:

Merlot Cabernet Franc

abv:

15%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.