Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesBarrel Sample: 90-92
Barrel Sample: 91-92
The 2021 Château Fontenil should be outstanding, with a beautiful bouquet of ripe darker cherry and cassis, followed by some background floral and violet notes. Medium-bodied on the palate, it has supple tannins, a round, delicious profile, and outstanding length. Barrel Sample : 89-91
Barrel Sample: 90
The 2021 Fontenil shows promise, offering up aromas of rich berry fruit, loamy soil, warm spices and creamy new oak, followed by a medium to full-bodied, rich and fleshy, generously extracted palate that's built around plenty of powdery tannin and a tangy spine of acidity. This is a strong effort that will delight admirers of the Rolland style, even in this cooler vintage. Barrel Sample: 88 - 90
In 1986, they acquired a few hectares in the commune of Saillans, which they called chateau Fontenil, after the name of one of the plots in the vineyard. The renovation work on the installations lasted until 1999; the vinification cellars, the barrel cellar and the storage cellar were all equipped with high-performance material.
Perfectly organized, tradition remains alongside new technologies: small stainless steel and wooden vats, double sorting table, barrel stock of which 60% are renewed each year and where malolactic fermentation is carried out – yield control from pruning the vines until green harvesting- sustainable viticulture, manual harvesting plot by plot using small crates.
The vines are on a slope with a southerly aspect, looking down on the river isle – a tributary of the Dordogne – and the town of Lilbourn. This magnificent setting frames an estate whose wines are among those which have enhanced the reputation of the Fronsac appellation.