2023 Les Pensées
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Tasting notes
As Omri Ram said, it’s “an exemplary Pensées” – a wine that “connects where we are and what we are”. There’s incredible intensity to the nose, with a pleasing herbaceous note, rich florals and deep, red, just-ripe plum, with spicy complexity. It’s transparent and pure, smooth and supple, revealing its energy and tension. The impressively long finish speaks to the potential here. Blend: 70% Merlot, 30% Bouschet (Cabernet Franc)
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The second wine of this reference point Pomerol estate, the 2023 Pensees De Lafleur is a more Merlot-dominated blend that's from more clay soils and spent 15 months in barrel (25% new and 75% nine months old). A gorgeous, classic Pomerol style emerges here, offering ripe red and black fruit intermixed with damp earth, liquid violets, chocolate, and graphite. It's medium to full-bodied and has a nicely concentrated, focused mouthfeel, some classic Lafleur elegance, ample mid-palate depth, and a more foursquare style (only compared to the Grand Vin), yet it's brilliant. It will keep for 20-30 years. Drink 2028-2053.
The 2023 Les Pensées de Lafleur has grown beautifully since I tasted it from barrel. The aromatics alone are mesmerizing. Crushed flowers, mint, dried herbs, rose petal and blood orange build beautifully. This seamless, captivating Pomerol is a total delight.
The 2023 Les Pensées has quite a discreet bouquet with black plum, wild hedgerow and light violet scents, a little closed but I think because of the weather on that day of tasting. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy tannins, a fine backbone matched by conspicuous freshness and especially marked sapidity coming through on the finish. Excellent.
About the producer
The Société Civile du Ch. Lafleur is the collective name for the Guinaudeau family’s wines and estates. These are some of the Right Bank’s most famous wines, including Ch. Lafleur and Les Pensées in Pomerol, along with Les Perrières, Les Champs Libres and Ch. Grand Village in Fronsac.