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News
The few critics that Michel Rolland still has need to taste this wine to understand a wine that was fabulous to drink young, yet at age 27 continues to perform incredibly well. A classic Pomerol, it boasts a dark garnet color with only slight lightening at the edge as well as sensational aromas of crème brulee, chocolate-covered black cherries and currants, figs, and plums, full-bodied, powerful, rich flavors, and tremendous purity, opulence, and length. I thought this 1982 would be in its grave a decade ago, but it continues to show just what great balance and length can mean in Bordeaux. It should drink well for another 10 years.
ROBERT PARKER
96/100
Wine Description
The Story
Deep color and delicate bouquet, as well as a softness typical of Pomerol and a generous, powerful side reminiscent of Saint-Emilion are the hallmarks of the wines of Château Le Bon Pasteur.
This extraordinary complexity results from the mosaic of identities of its 21 cadastered plots in the Pomerol appellation, to the French border of St. Emilion.
The Pomerol appellation encompasses a multitude of micro-terroirs. What makes Château Le Bon Pasteur, with a total surface area of 6.7 hectares, so unusual is that it is located on the border between two world-famous regions: Pomerol and Saint-Emilion. As opposed to the great châteaux of the Médoc, the vineyard is not in a single block, but spread out over 21 plots. This patchwork of terroirs accounts for the wine’s considerable complexity, deep colour and delicate bouquet, as well as a softness typical of Pomerol and a generous, powerful side reminiscent of Saint-Emilion.
Château Le Bon Pasteur’s wide range of different geological profiles includes clay-gravel and gravelly-sand, deep gravel, and a subsoil of sandy molasse or clay molasse (called molasse du Fronsadais) with traces of crasse de fer (ironpan). The complexity of these various terroirs is accentuated by the varying depth of topsoil, different sun exposure (south and southeast), as well as the gradient and type of subsoil that determine natural drainage.
Each plot of vines has unique characteristics calling for tailor-made attention. The “Caillou” plot, planted entirely with Merlot and located 200 metres from Pétrus, is one of the key components of Le Bon Pasteur. The clay-gravel soil overlays a rare blue clay subsoil that is found only in Pomerol. Rich in iron, this terroir absorbs water when it rains, thus avoiding an excess supply to the roots. Conversely, during hot dry weather, the blue clay loosens and releases water to nourish the vine roots, even deep down. This naturally-regulated system enables the Merlot vines to produce wines that epitomise this variety’s intrinsic concentration, velvety texture, and great delicacy.
The “Pomerol Maillet” part of the vineyards features Cabernet Franc vines an average 40 years old. This variety is early-maturing here thanks to the clay-gravel-siliceous soil. This tendency towards early-ripening reduces the risk of rot during the rainy month of October in Bordeaux. The Cabernet Franc vines from this part of the vineyard produce fresh, spicy, and very fruity wines that are also balanced, structured, and show good ageing potential.
Other plots, poetically named “La Maugarde”, “Le Barrail”, “La Chichonne”, “Chantecaille”, and “Troque”, are also located in the hamlet of Maillet, which has no centre as such, but rather climats like in Burgundy. Our winemaking team takes great pains to adapt to each of these climats. Thanks to our technique of vinification intégrale (alcoholic fermentation in 225 litre barrels), we can target optimum ripeness down to the smallest parts of the vineyard.
Wine Information
Alternating beautiful hot weather and rain. It was the exceptional weather conditions that lead to favorable vine development. All stages of phenolic ripening benefit from great conditions. Perfect ripeness was logically reached during the first days of September. The harvest was of great quality as the ripeness was perfect.
Vintage 1982
1982 by James Suckling
The 1982 vintage in Bordeaux changed the world of wine and my life. It was the first vintage I tasted from barrel as a young wine writer working for the American magazine The Wine Spectator, and I was amazed at how magnificent the quality of a young red could be in barrel.
I remember the first barrel samples I tasted in the summer of 1983 at Château Prieuré-Lichine with the late wine author and winemaker Alexis Lichine. The wines were so fruity with soft, rich tannins. They seemed too drinkable for a young wine, but Lichine, who had over forty years of experience tasting young wines, told me that the wines were "exceptional" and "some of the greatest young wines ever produced." .
He had invited some of his winegrower friends from the Médoc to a lunch at his château after the tasting. And he kept telling them, including Bruno Prats (then Cos d'Estournel), Anthony Barton (Léoville-Barton) and Jean-Eugène Borie (Ducru-Beaucaillou), that young writers like me were the future of the region and that they had to make me understand that 1982 was a great year. He was upset that the New York Times and other magazines declared the new vintage unexceptional due to its apparently early drinkability.
It was also a time when an American lawyer in the mid-1930s began writing about wine full-time, creating a newsletter called The Wine Advocate. Many say that Robert Parker built his career on extolling the greatness of the 1982 Bordeaux vintage, although he obviously did much more.
More importantly, the 1982 vintage marked a big change in the way Bordeaux was produced. He emphasized ripe fruit and tannins in the reds as well as a slightly higher alcohol level and lower or less strong acidity – higher pH. This is what gave the wines such wonderful texture, or drinkability in their youth.
This was a big change from most vintages before 1982 which produced harsh, tannic wines that needed years or even decades to mellow. The 1982 vintage became a model vintage for red Bordeaux in the future, and arguably for the wine world in general. Think of all the fruity reds being produced around the world today – for better or for worse. The alcohols are at least two, sometimes three or four degrees higher. The tannins are stronger but more ripe. And the natural acidities are lower. Capitalization – adding sugar to fermenting grape must to increase the alcohol – seems to be a thing of the past.
“Young wines are so drinkable now,” said Alexander Thienpont, the winemaker of Vieux-Château-Certan and Pin de Pomerol. The latter made its reputation on early drinkability. “This is what people expect from a modern wine today. »
I believe part of the change with the 1982 was due to the “California” growing conditions that Bordelias were talking about at the time. The summer was extremely hot and sunny. The harvest was warm and mostly free of precipitation. Grape yields were high, with many of the best wine estates producing more wine per hectare than French authorities had set. In fact, the late Jean Pierre Moueix of Château Petrus always told me that the 1982 vintage would have been at the same level as the 1945 or 1949 vintage if yields had been lower.
However, the experience of the growing season and harvest in 1982 made a whole new generation of winegrowers in the region understand the importance of picking grapes later and riper. They realized early on that wine critics such as Parker and myself, as well as members of the American wine trade, were so enthusiastic about 1982 reds on tap. It was also the beginning of the popularization of barrel partitions used to buy wines.
The American market was the largest market to buy high-end Bordeaux with the 1982 vintage. It began a decade of intense Bordeaux buying in the United States, with consumers buying first growth and second growth as well as Pomerols and Saint-Emilion. Americans delighted in the juiciness and beauty of the wine. They also made a lot of money if they kept the wines sold later. For example, most premier crus sold for around $40 per bottle in 1983 as futures and some now cost up to $3,500 per bottle. Prices for 1982 are now down slightly, but the 30-year price appreciation is impressive after 30 years.
The same goes for the quality of wines for the most part. I am lucky enough to drink top 1982s regularly, and the best ones never cease to amaze me with their generous, complex fruit and polished, ripe tannins. Bottle variation can be a problem because many of the big names have been bought, sold and stored all over the world, but overall it's a treat to drink a great 1982. And the vintage always reminds me of my beginnings in the world of wine
James Suckling has been writing and tasting wine for over 30 years. He worked for 28 years as editor of the American wine magazine The WIne Spectator, and in July 2010 he left to launch his own website www. jamessuckling.com and wine events company. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Asia Tatler Group with luxury magazines across the region including Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines and Malaysia. His specialty is Italy and Bordeaux, but he loves tasting and discovering wines from all over the world. His last big wine adventure was tasting 57 vintages of Chateau Petrus in the Hamptons, but he also enjoyed sharing great Barolos from Bruno Giacosa, Roberto Vorezio and Giacomo Conterno with wine lovers in Seoul.
by James Sucking
