Château Lafleur - Les Pensées 2020

The story of Château LaFleur starts with Henri Greloud, who owned Château Le Gay and was the first to produce single-vineyard wines in Pomerol. In 1872, he purchased one plot of 4.5 hectares of vines and began a complete restructuring of the vineyard, built the house and the cellars and called this place: Lafleur.  In 1930s, Andre Robin worked to develop Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) massale in the vineyards. Their daughters, Therese and Marie Robin took over after Andre’s death in 1946 and kept things relatively the same for almost 40 years until 1984 when Jacques and Sylvie Guinaudeau, the great, great-grandchildren of Henri Greloud made arrangements to lease Chateau Lafleur from Marie Robin, the surviving sister. They got to work in 1985, replanting a quarter of the vines, and, when Marie Robin passed away, the Guinaudeaus sold their rights to Le Gay for afford the full ownership of Lafleur in 2002. Later that year, Baptiste Guinaudeau (son to Jacques and Sylvie) and his wife Julie joined them at Chateau Lafleur.

Produced since 1987, this cru reveals a different geological expression of the vineyard of Lafleur, translated through the great clay terroir of Pomerol instead of Lafleur’s mighty gravel. This small 0.7 hectare parcel is is at the center of the Lafleur property with deeper soils ranging from sandy silt to clay and brown sand and less gravel - richer and deeper, and more typical to the soils of Pomerol. The wine is aged for 18 months in barrique (50% new).

"Checking in as 71% Merlot and 29% Cabernet Franc from more clay soils across the estate vineyard, the 2020 Pensées De Lafleur has a classic Pomerol-like style in its darker blue fruits, iron, damp earth, and leafy herb-driven aromatics. These carry to a medium to full-bodied, tight, closed, yet incredibly promising Pomerol that deserves 5-7 years of bottle age and will keep for at least two decades. It’s easy to think of this cuvée as a second wine, but the reality is that it comes from the same vines every year, and if anything, it's a more classic Pomerol compared to the more singular, exotic Château Lafleur." - 93+ Points, Jeb Dunnuck

"The 2020 Pensées de Lafleur unwinds in the glass with deep aromas of cherries, raspberries, crushed mint and black truffle. Full-bodied, layered and velvety, with a broad and enveloping attack that segues into a deep and rather taut mid-palate, it concludes with a long, penetrating finish. As usual, this isn't a second wine, per se: it derives from vines growing in the part of Lafleur's vineyard through which a watercourse once flowed and where the soils are richer in clay and better hydrated, and the Guinadeau family like to refer to it as more stereotypically Pomerolais than Lafleur itself. The 2020's tension and structure, however, mark it out as the most Lafleur-like Pensées of recent years." - 95+ Points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Producer: Château Lafleur

Country: France

Region: Bordeaux

Varietal:  Cabernet Franc, Merlot

Appellation: Pomerol

Vintage: 2020

Size: 750ml