2015 Chateau Le Bon Pasteur Pomerol 750 ml

Here’s an insider tip: in truly outstanding vintages, look to the passion projects.

Famous vintners will always fetch top dollar for their well-known brands, but every great winemaker has a wine that is all their own, into which they pour their hearts and souls. And for Michel Rolland, that wine is Château Le Bon Pasteur.

Though his name is associated with the countless 100-point wineries for which he’s consulted, from Angélus to Harlan Estate, Le Bon Pasteur in Pomerol is where Rolland has consistently lavished his love and attention since the beginning of his career.

And in 2015—the vintage James Suckling described as “definitely a new benchmark for Bordeaux”—Rolland’s 96-point Le Bon Pasteur may be his crowning achievement since he started making it in 1978.

Characterized by the wonderful brightness and purity that defined Pomerol in 2015, the red currant, black plum, cassis, and cherry aromas are enticing enough, but it’s the secondary notes of rose petal, black olive, crushed rock, and cedar that truly ignite the senses. 

Medium-full-bodied and luxurious on entry, the plush tannins give it a wonderfully rounded structure that’s only heightened by ripe black fruit and complex hints of licorice, vanilla, exotic spice, and a touch of tobacco that holds a thrilling level of intrigue long into the finish.

Michel Rolland is the world’s most revered blender of Bordeaux varieties. Some call him “Houdini in the tasting room” for his ability to evaluate 60 or 70 different lots at a time, selecting small amounts of each to assemble the perfect whole. But even as Rolland has applied his unparalleled blending talents at Harlan Estate, Bond, Staglin, Bryant Family, and Dalla Valle, his heart remains in Pomerol, at the tiny 14-acre estate that’s been in his family for almost a century, and which he now farms with his wife Dany.

In 1920, Rolland’s grandfather acquired the small property just behind Château Gazin in the Pomerol’s northeast. The soils were light, a fine mix of sand and gravel, planted primarily to Merlot with smaller amounts of Cabernet Franc. In 1978, Michel and his brother Jean-Daniel took control of the cellar and the family vineyards. It wouldn’t be long before Robert Parker came calling.

“It is not surprising that Michel Rolland, the world's most renowned oenologist, and in my opinion, its best, can take a good terroir in Pomerol and produce wines that are as stunning as those from the finest sectors," raved Parker of Le Bon Pasteur, later declaring in a review of the estate’s wine: “It is always amazing how Michel and Dany Rolland coax so much character and quality from this vineyard.” In 2013, Rolland sold the winery to the Goldin Group, which also owns cult favorite Sloan Estate, but continues to oversee it with his wife.

The previous vintages we’ve sold of this wine—the 2006, 2009, and 2010—flew off the shelves. Thanks to our success with those offers, the estate has shared a small allocation of the 2015s at an incredible price compared to its 96-point peers.

Pomerol is widely considered to be one of the best appellations of 2015, enabling Le Bon Pasteur’s 40+-year-old Merlot and Cabernet Franc vines to experience ideal growing conditions from the start. The perfect weather combined with the region’s classic gravelly clay and sand soils to help achieve grapes of full phenolic maturity, and a resulting wine of brilliant poise.

Suckling entitled his overview of the vintage, “Bordeaux is Really Back in 2015.” We don’t think it ever really went away, but stunning Right Bank powerhouse wines like this Le Bon Pasteur do force you to sit up straight and take notice of the incredible value there still exists for serious collectors and impulse imbibers alike.

That it’s crafted by the legendary Michel Rolland makes it an even more worthy feature for your cellar and table over the next two decades.