Château Le Bon Pasteur

The château

Le Bon Pasteur lies in the hamlet of Maillet, on the border between Pomerol and Saint-Émilion. Joseph and Hermine Dupuy created it and named it for the Sunday after Easter, the Sunday of the Good Shepherd. Michel Rolland, born in 1947 on the edge of the appellation, grew up on this family property, and when his father, Serge Rolland, died in 1979 he took over its management with his mother, while he went on working at the laboratory in Libourne that he and his wife Dany had joined in 1973.

This is where he worked out the methods that made his name: picking at full ripeness, green harvesting, selection by plot, sorting before and after destemming, whole-berry fermentation, punching down, and, from 1987, small temperature-controlled tanks of 15 to 70 hectoliters. Sutong Pan’s Goldin Group bought the estate in June 2013 and kept the team. Michel Rolland remained in charge of the winemaking until his death in March 2026, and Benoit Prévot, a trainee here in 1989 and technical manager of Vignobles Rolland from 1993, has been general manager since the purchase.

The 6.7 hectares are not a single block but 21 plots, facing south and southeast, on clay and gravel, gravelly sand and deep gravel over a subsoil of sandy or clay molasse with traces of iron pan. The Caillou plot, all Merlot, lies 200 meters from Petrus on clay and gravel over blue clay; the Cabernet Franc of the Pomerol Maillet plots averages 40 years; and the other plots, La Maugarde, Le Barrail, La Chichonne, Chantecaille and Troque, are treated as climats, as in Burgundy. The vineyard is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, 40 years old on average.

The grapes are picked by hand and sorted before and after destemming, then fermented in small temperature-controlled steel tanks and in new French oak barrels, where the malolactic also runs. The wine ages 15 to 18 months in those same barrels and is bottled without fining and, where possible, without filtering: 20,000 bottles in all. The second wine, L’Étoile de Bon Pasteur, began with the 2013 vintage.

At a glance

Appellation

Pomerol

Commune

Pomerol, the hamlet of Maillet

Classification

No classification

Owner

The Goldin Group of Sutong Pan, since June 2013

Direction

Benoit Prévot, general manager since 2013; Michel Rolland directed the winemaking until his death in March 2026

Vineyard

6.7 hectares in 21 plots, facing south and southeast; vines 40 years old on average

Soil

Clay and gravel, gravelly sand and deep gravel over molasse Terroir of Pomerol →

Grapes

Merlot 80%, Cabernet Franc 20%

Cellar

Picked by hand; small steel tanks and new French oak barrels; 15 to 18 months in new French oak; no fining

Production

20,000 bottles

Wines

Château Le Bon Pasteur; L’Étoile de Bon Pasteur, from 2013