Chateau Fombrauge

The name Fombrauge came from the words fons brougiera, meaning source surrounded by heather and bushes. The first written record of Chateau Fombrauge dated back to 1453, when a squire named Jacques de Canolle acquired the property in 1466 proclaiming himself seigneur of Fombrauge.

It was under the Canolle family for several decades, then it was offered as dowry to Jacques Dumas in 1691. Dumas had been an active member of the ‘Pepiniere’, applying expertise on agriculture to the wine, improving the quality and achieving success. The property fell into public hands after French Revolution, and later returned to the Dumas descendants in 1808.

In 19^th century it changed hands to Ferdinand de Taffard, and was awarded gold medal in the 1867 World Fair in Paris. It was sold to a Dutch trading company in 1987, which sold the wine exclusively in the Scandinavian markets. Bernard Magrez acquired the property in 1999, returning the wine to the Bordeaux market, and was awarded GCC status in 2012 classification.

Nearly 60 ha, the property is on the plateau and slopes of St-Christophe-des-Bardes, and is the largest of the St-Emilion grands crus. With calcareous clay on limestone soil, it is planted with 77% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Cabernet Franc, with average vine age of 35 years.

Manually harvest, with sorting before and after destemming, the grapes are transferred into oak casks by gravity, with maceration and then manual hand plunging before putting into 50% new oak. Annual production is 170,000 bottles, with also a white wine produced. A tiny production of an intense, sweet garage wine Magrez Fombrauge is also made.

I have recently tasted the 2005 vintage and below is my tasting note:

Appearance
Bright and clear, this wine is of deep ruby color, with legs.

Nose
Clean, the nose shows medium intensity aromas of black fruit such as blackberry, dark plum and bilberry, pungent spice of liquorice, animal note of leather, kernel notes of mocha, oak notes of cedar, maturity notes of game. The wine is developing.

Palate
Dry with medium acidity, medium (+) tannin of ripe though a bit gripping on texture, the wine has medium (+) alcohol and is of medium body with medium (+) intensity flavors of black fruit such as blackberry and black cherry, oak notes of cedar and toast, kernel notes of coffee, sweet spice of cloves, MLF notes of cream. The wine has a medium (+) finish.

Conclusion
Good quality St-Emilion with a reasonably intense nose of fair complexity, the wine has a really wonderful palate, which is intense and offering good fruit and other characters, though the alcohol is a bit too warming especially in the first few sips. Another memorable note is the good long finish. Ready to drink now and it should benefit from further ageing of another 3-5 years.