Château Fombrauge: Tasting & Drinking
Any discussion of the wine made at Château Fombrauge can only pertain to those made during the Magrez era, as I have no experience of the estate prior to his purchase of the vineyards in 1999. Anyone familiar with the style of Magrez wines, perhaps from encounters with a wine from one of his many other domaines, will probably be able to pre-empt any comments I make. These other domaines include Château La Tour Carnet, Château Les Grands Chênes, Château Pape-Clément and numerous others (several dozen in Bordeaux alone I believe).
The Magrez style is characterised by inky-dark colours and strong extraction, and perhaps Château Pape-Clément is the archetype for understanding this. The wines of other châteaux are moulded in very much the same vein, and Château Fombrauge is no exception. These are wines rich in sweet fruit flavours in their youth, all damson, smoky cherry and sooty plum, the more savoury edges coming hand-in-hand with a dark, tannin-laden structure. These are not light and easy wines, but are rich and substantial, plushly textured, and they require time in the cellar to integrate if they are to reveal their true charms, I think.
Please log in to continue reading: