2018 Les Pensees
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Tasting notes
The 2018 Les Pensées de Lafleur has an open bouquet with iris-inflected raspberry and blackberry, a touch of iodine emerging with aeration. The palate is fresh and quite sensual with oodles of blackcurrant and blueberry fruit. It does become a bit heady with aeration, with a sweet white pepper- and tobacco-tinged finish. Frankly, it is not far away in quality from the Grand Vin. Tasted from ex-château magnum at Kate & Kon's 40-Year vertical in Austria.
Critic scores
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Tasted blind. First bottle TCA. Second bottle: very youthful colour. Some admirable energy here – really pacey! Medium weight and none of the vintage’s excess of (obvious) alcohol or tannin. Rich though on the end. Long, very long. (JR)
The 2018 Les Pensées de Lafleur is a different kettle of fish compared to the Grand Vin. In fact, it should be treated as a separate Pomerol cuvée, since even though it comes from a tongue of more clayey soil within Lafleur, the resulting wine is much more sensual and richer in style. Plush red cherries and crushed strawberry fruit feature on the nose, rose petals scents forming after a couple of hours’ opening. The palate is medium-bodied, soft in texture and approachable, displaying plenty of rondeur , with fine mineralité toward the finish and still just the faint acrid tang of a strong espresso on the aftertaste. I love this and it would not surprise me if blind, I ended up scoring it higher than the Grand Vin for the first few years.
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.