Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Extremely perfumed and bright with raspberry, currant and dried-flower character. Full-bodied, yet soft and velvety with a flavorful finish. Already gorgeous. Better from 2022.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek in feel, with racy acidity pulling the raspberry and plum fruit along from the get-go. The chalky minerality is well-embedded on the finish. Solid. Rating: 90-93
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Fontenil is medium to deep garnet-purple colored and gives up exuberant red cherries, black raspberries, wild blueberries and cinnamon stick scents with hints of wild sage and forest floor. Medium-bodied, refreshing and wonderfully elegant, it has beautiful vibrancy and a perfumed finish.
Rating: 91+ -
Jeb Dunnuck
The home terroir of famed consultant Michel Rolland, the 2016 Château Fontenil sports a vivid purple color to go with impressive amounts of plum and currant fruits as well as loads of tobacco leaf, cedar pencil shavings, and camphor. Medium to full-bodied, with terrific elegance and purity, it shines for its balance and is very much in the style of the 2016 vintage. It will be even better with short-term cellaring and drink well for 10-15 years.
Rating: 90+
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.
Home of the very first remarkable Right Bank wines, dating back to the 1730s, Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac actually retained more fame than Pomerol well into the 19th century. Today these wines represent some of Bordeaux’s best hidden gems.
Fronsac is a very small region at an unusually high elevation compared to other Bordeaux appellations. Its vineyards unroll along the oak-dotted hills bordering the river’s edge, making it perhaps Bordeaux’s prettiest and most majestic countryside.
Merlot covers 60% of the vineyard acreage; the rest of the vines are Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac appellations are limited to the higher land where soils are predominantly limestone and sandstone. Lower vineyards along the Dordogne River mainly qualify for Bordeaux AOC status
The best Fronsac are deeply concentrated in ripe red and black berry; they have a solid mineral backbone and are rich and plush on the finish.