2019 vintage St Emilion Grand Cru Classé.

Voluptuous and organic St Emilion Grand Cru wine with minerality, black fruits and good tannic structure. 

The 2019 year was a crazy vintage for Bordeaux, with crippling frosts at the beginning of the year that destroyed the entire year for some producers. An early heat wave followed by drought that didn't ease until August had vignerons on the left bank on tenderhooks. The standouts of the year are right bank, particularly Pomerol and St Emilion where the clay soils held sufficient moisture during the growing season and frost damage at a minimum.  The resulting wines are polished, very concentrated with a generosity of fruit, while not forgoing sophisticated tannins.  A very good year.

Winemaker Notes

As our flagship wine, Château Fonplégade is the ultimate expression of our terroir. It is also a wine of impeccable balance, bringing together the finest attributes of our vineyard to create a complex and complete expression of Saint-Emilion winemaking. From our oldest vines grown in clay and limestone rich soils, Château Fonplégade gains its sophisticated signature minerality, as well as its sweet tannins and soft, velvety mouthfeel. Though our old-vine fruit forms the rich, compelling core of Château Fonplégade, a modest amount of grapes from somewhat younger vines is also incorporated in the blend, adding voluptuous black fruit notes and tannic structure. Château Fonplégade is aged for 18 to 24 months in 60% new French oak and 40% one-year-old cooperage.

For centuries, the vine rows of Château Fonplégade have been the source for some of Saint-Emilion’s most coveted winegrapes. Grown in ideal limestone and clay soils, and nourished in drier years by the deep under-ground water source that feeds the fountain of Fonplégade, our vines benefit from a harmonious relationship between the elements—a relationship that yields wines of uncommon grace and grandeur. As stewards of these cherished vine rows, we cultivate our vineyard using strict ECOCERT organic practices, both to preserve the purity and character of our grapes, and to ensure the legacy of Château Fonplégade for generations to come.

THE WINE:
VARIETALS: 95% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc
PRODUCTION: 3500 Cases
ORGANIC : since 2013

VINIFICATION AND AGEING:
VINIFICATION : Cuves bois tronconiques et barriques 500L (25%)
VATTING TIME: 35 à 40 jours
AGEING: 18 à 24 mois
BARRELS: 85% neuves, 15% cuves ovoïdales en ciment
YIELDING : 30 Hl/Ha

THE VINEYARD:
SUPERFICY: 18,5 hectares
SOILS: Plateau calcaire et coteaux argilo-calcaire
SITUATION: Château Belair-Monange, Canon Lagaffelière, L’Angelus et Canon
AGE AVERAGE OF OUR VINES: 30 ans
YIELDING PRODUCTION : 8400 pieds/hectare

Reviews

• 95 James Suckling

  Plums, dark cherries, blueberries, cedar, amber, dried herbs and baking spices on the nose. Full-bodied with plush tannins. Structured, balanced and intense. It has a polished, rich core of dark and blue fruit and a long, flavorful finish. Wait for the oak spice to integrate.

• 95 Decanter
  Gorgeous aromatics include cherry, aniseed and menthol freshness, in a medium-bodied palate evoking Burgundian refinement. There is a whiff of oak in the initial, powerful attack, but then the wine broadly coats the palate with violet, plum, cherry and lead pencil aspects, exhibiting fresh notes in its vinous palate. A long finish. Clearly of high calibre.
• 94 Jeb Dunnuck

  From a great terroir on the south-facing hillside just outside of the village, the 2019 Château Fonplégade has pretty notes of ripe black cherries, cassis, spring flowers, sandalwood, and classy oak. I love the nose, and while it's still young and relatively unevolved, it already has hints of complexity and nuance, and the purity is spot on. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, with a great mid-palate and sweet, velvety tannins, it already offers pleasure yet will benefit from 4-6 years of bottle age, and I'd be shocked if it didn't evolve nicely for at least 15-20 years.

• 93 Wine Enthusiast
  This is a rich and dense wine that shows the ripeness of the fruit of this vintage. It has structure to back up the ripe berry flavors, while the intense acidity promises aging over the long-term.
  
  
• 92 Wine Spectator

  Shows the thickly textured dark fruit of the vintage, with steeped plum and blackberry notes cruising through slowly, carried by alder, loam and tobacco threads. Gains nuance as it airs in the glass, showing light chalky minerality for energy and balance in the process. Approachable but no rush. Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

• 91 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  Aromas of ripe cherries, licorice, crème de cassis, burning embers and loamy soil introduce the 2019 Fonplegade, a medium to full-bodied, muscular wine that's rich and powerful, reflecting its clay-rich soils. It's a fleshy, generous wine that represents a fine success in a more impactful style.