Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
From vines surrounding one of Saint-Emilion's most beautiful château, this wine is massively rich with dense tannins, dark chocolate and rich berry flavors. Obviously, it has a fine future, ripe with powerful fruits and structure.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Jeb Dunnuck
Cassis, black raspberries, graphite, spicy oak, and floral notes all emerge from the 2020 Chateau Fombrauge, a wonderfully textured, medium to full-bodied, concentrated, yet elegant Saint-Emilion. A wine that builds beautifully with time in the glass, it complex, has ripe, silky tannins, and a great finish. Tasted on more than one occasion, it never failed to impress. Drink this richly textured, sexy, beautiful 2020 over the coming 15+ years.
-
James Suckling
Very linear and tight with a firmness and brightness. Blackcurrant, earth, and lemon rind character throughout. Fresh and racy. Needs time to open. Drink after 2026.
-
Vinous
The 2020 Fombrauge is enticing right out of the gate. Cherries in liqueur, spice, rose petal, menthol, licorice and chocolate make a strong first impression. Racy and deep, with notable textural resonance, Fombrauge is terrific in 2020. There's plenty of opulence and yet the 2020 is nicely balanced. -Antonio Galloni
-
Wine Spectator
Frankly ripe and forward, with a broad swath of dark plum, blackberry and boysenberry compote flavors that course through, supported by light licorice root and alder threads. Reveals a warm earth note that drapes over the finish. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2025 through 2035.
-
Decanter
Confident and structured, offering a velvet texture and dense plum and blackberry fruits, plenty of punch with ground coffee on the finish. Now one of the largest estates in St-Emilion at 58ha.
Barrel Sample: 91 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Aromas of sweet cherries, jam berries, dark chocolate and toasty new oak introduce the 2020 Fombrauge, a medium to full-bodied, sweet and fleshy wine with a liqueured core of fruit, ripe tannins and a broad, expansive finish. It will appeal to readers who gravitate to riper, softer styles of Saint-Émilion.
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.