Château Faugères: Vineyards
The estate is located six kilometres east of St Emilion close to St-Etienne-de-Lisse, near the slopes of the edge of the St-Christophe plateau. Near neighbours include Château de Pressac to the west, which also sits on the edge of the plateau and which is noted for its terraced vineyards. To the north lies Château Mangot, and beyond the road is the new Château Valandraud (previously Château Bel-Air-Ouÿ) and Château Fleur Cardinale. To the east, of course, lie the vineyards of Castillon, including neighbouring Château Cap de Faugères.
Although the Faugères estate started out with perhaps 80 hectares, these have now been distributed between the three estates. Château Faugères has about 45 hectares, although in order to qualify for the 2012 St Emilion classification only 37 hectares were submitted, Silvio Denz and his team having voluntarily declassified 8 hectares which they did not consider up to scratch. This has since been expanded a little though, presumably in the 2022 reworking of the classification, and thus the wine is sourced from 42 hectares today.
The soils are thus a mix of clay and limestone, as we would expect on the edge of the plateau; geological surveys by the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières indicate that the limestone here is principally Calcaire de Castillon, over Molasses du Fronsadais, with soils of clay, sand, gravel and galets further down the slope. The vines are predominantly red, and these are 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, planted at a density of 6,600 vines per hectare, and with an average age of about thirty years.
