Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very fruity and rich wine with dried strawberries and blackberries. Full body, with an opulent palate of ripe fruit and toasted oak. Yet racy and refined with a beautiful balance. It's fresh and racy.
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Wine Enthusiast
Spice and mint aromas with blackberry fruit, new wood and a polished character. The acidity is delicious, refreshing.
Barrel Sample: 92-94 Points -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The estate's most abundant cuvee of about 5,000+ cases is the 2010 Faugeres, a blend of 85% Merlot with the rest mostly Cabernet Franc and just a small quantity of Cabernet Sauvignon, all bottled unfined and unfiltered. It is another St.-Emilion hitting 15% natural alcohol. Tiny yields of 22 hectoliters per hectare and a late harvest that went into the third week of October have resulted in a stunningly concentrated wine with notes of crushed rock, blue and dark red/black fruits, some camphor, incense and, for lack of a better description, a smell of acacia flowers. A sexy, opulent and full-bodied wine that seems to have more in common with the 2009s than most 2010s, this wine can be drunk out of the gate, but will certainly hit its stride in 3-4 years and last for up to 15.
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Wine Spectator
Solid, if a touch chewy along the edges right now, as briar, cocoa and licorice snap notes are out in front of the core of pastis-soaked plum and blackberry fruit. There's lots of sweet, roasted wood spice on the finish, with the briary edge lingering as well. A bit exotic, but the structure is legit and cellaring should tame this. Best from 2015 through 2027.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.