WTN: Le Bon Pasteur, Burrowing Owl

[Jenise]

2004 Burrowing Owl Chardonnay, Okanagan Valley BC
Crisp green apple, lemon and pear, less ripe and less oak presence than in previous years with solid acidity. I once drank a six year old BO chardonnay that was quite incredible and this has the presence to age into that kind of wine. Drinks okay now but will reward further cellaring.

1999 Le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol
My first ever LBP, so was quite surprised by how modern and fruit forward this wine was. Very big blueberry with ripe raspberry notes in the nose and on the palate, with overt vanilla and graphite on the finish. Dusty tannins still show some grip. With all that body, blueberry and vanilla, you could use this wine as a ringer in a tasting of wines from Washington State's Walla Walla appellation. Very drinkable, but not what I hope for from Bordeaux.

[David M. Bueker]

1999 Le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol
...you could use this wine as a ringer in a tasting of wines from Washington State's Walla Walla appellation. Very drinkable, but not what I hope for from Bordeaux.

I've had the 2001 twice with notes similar to your on the '99. Of course it is a Pomerol, the "lushest" AOC in Bordeaux, but still quite shocker eh?

1999 Le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol
My first ever LBP, so was quite surprised by how modern and fruit forward this wine was. Very big blueberry with ripe raspberry notes in the nose and on the palate, with overt vanilla and graphite on the finish. Dusty tannins still show some grip. With all that body, blueberry and vanilla, you could use this wine as a ringer in a tasting of wines from Washington State's Walla Walla appellation. Very drinkable, but not what I hope for from Bordeaux.

Le Bon Pasteur! You are surely not surprised by what you tasted in Michel Rolland's very own wine.

He might consult for half the world but this is his estate.
I haven't had a single bottle yet but I bought some of the 98 which had a good review and I will hold it a bit longer with my other right bank purchases. However when I drink it I have always thought it would taste rather like you describe it.

It won't be one of my favourite Bordeaux [like Pichon Comtesse or Lynch Bages or at a more modest level, Chasse Spleen or Potensac] but I am expecting to enjoy it very much as a very occasional palate widener.

[David M. Bueker]

Hey Nigel - good to see you over here.

Not all Rolland wines are the same. Fontenil and Poyferre are two (just to pick a couple) that don't reflect the international style he is villified for implementing world wide.

Nigel, this is the first time I have seen your name on the forum, so I wanted to say Welcome.

We are quite a disparate bunch of mostly wine geeks, but we will talk about most anything. Hope you stay around and join in often.

Hey Nigel - good to see you over here.

Not all Rolland wines are the same. Fontenil and Poyferre are two (just to pick a couple) that don't reflect the international style he is villified for implementing world wide.

Thank you David,
I agree re Rolland and Leoville Poyferre has been one of my favourite St. Juliens for a very long time and long before he was the consultant BUT I still buy the wines. I have heard good things about Fontenil but haven't had it.

And I really don't vilify him because there are so many who really like his wines. I guess all I was trying to say [hopefully with humour ] that I had bought the 98 Le Bon Pasteur expecting it to taste in the way it was being described [simply because it was Rolland's own wine] AND still enjoy it.

[David M. Bueker]

Nigel,

Forgive the failure of my perceptions. Just back from Germany (business) and have no idea where I left my brain.

[Jenise]

Nigel and David, the joke's on me--I had not remembered that this was a Rolland property, well, THE Rolland property--but as we tasted it I told my husband that what we discovered in it must be why I never bought this wine for our cellar (this bottle was a gift) as I would have distrusted any accurate description of it. That said, this IS a nice wine with no flaws if you like everything I described about it, and I tried to imply that. I could drink this wine all day--it's just not, as I said, what I hope for, emphasis on 'hope', from Bordeaux.

And, finally, Nigel, welcome to WLDG!

Not that Michel Rolland needs to be defended... but to be very candid Im sick of hearing over and over that Rolland makes the same wine in every place he works or consults or owns a winery. I can understand that folks may not like many or all of Rolland's wines... but, this constant bashing that is seen everywhere on the Internet is just plain funny.

There are dozens of examples that prove that Rollands wines do not taste the same... but I will give only one such example of the region which for obvious reasons I know best (Mendoza, Argentina). Try a bottle of Clos de los Siete and then try what Rolland does with Federico Benegas over at Bodega Benegas (where he consults), and it will be very easy to see the differences.

I guess all I was trying to say [hopefully with humour ] that I had bought the 98 Le Bon Pasteur expecting it to taste in the way it was being described [simply because it was Rolland's own wine] AND still enjoy it.

That's generally my attitude. I think that Bon Pasteur (as a generality, don't remember tasting the '99) DOES taste like Pomerol, just clearly "modern" Pomerol. I don't expect it to last as long as my traditional favorites such as Trotanoy and VCC, but can enjoy BP (and Hosanna or Nenin for other modern Pomerols that don't cost hundreds) on their own terms. I can see if you were expecting a more traditional wine how it would shock.

I do think both Fontenil and (this decade's) Poyferres DO show as very modern wines in my opinion. But again, I can still enjoy. I took the '90 Fontenil to an "inexpensive Bordeaux" shootout a couple years ago, clear WOTN (even for those who decry anything non-tradtional).

Not that Michel Rolland needs to be defended... but to be very candid Im sick of hearing over and over that Rolland makes the same wine in every place he works or consults or owns a winery. I can understand that folks may not like many or all of Rolland's wines... but, this constant bashing that is seen everywhere on the Internet is just plain funny.

There are dozens of examples that prove that Rollands wines do not taste the same... but I will give only one such example of the region which for obvious reasons I know best (Mendoza, Argentina). Try a bottle of Clos de los Siete and then try what Rolland does with Federico Benegas over at Bodega Benegas (where he consults), and it will be very easy to see the differences.

Alejandro

Perhaps you didn't mean to suggest it but I don't think anyone in this thread has 'bashed' Michel Rolland or suggested that all his wines taste the same.

However you also participate on another forum where certain Rolland wines in a country you are very familiar with are coming in for a general criticism from a fair-minded writer who is currently touring its many wineries. I note you made the same comparison of the 2 wineries above; one of which I believe he owns with other people and the other he is the consultant. Depending on the expertise and confidence of the other owner/winemaker one might expect the possibility or even likelihood of a difference between his wine and that of an estate owned by Rolland himself.

Looking for balance in all of this I was interested to see that the current issue of Decanter has an article on the power of consultants in Bordeaux including different views on Rolland’s influence on the final wine right down to the blend as well as those estates who seek his advice but still make their own decisions.

However I certainly found no surprise that a 98 Le Bon Pasteur [which I have in my cellar] might taste like Jenise described it in the first post of this thread: 'very big blueberry with ripe raspberry notes in the nose and on the palate, with overt vanilla and graphite on the finish. Dusty tannins still show some grip.'

Certainly not a description that strikes me as critical or puts me off and indeed, as I said, I look forward to enjoying the wine even if it doesn’t suddenly jump past my Pomerol favourites like VCC and L’Evangile.