Château de Fonbel: Vineyards
The location of the vines of Château de Fonbel seems to have many writers and merchants mystified. It seems to me that “close to Château Ausone” is the best many have come up with, suggesting that the vines are in some long-lost parcel on the limestone plateau, squeezed between Château Ausone, Château Canon and Château Beauséjour. Nothing could be further from the truth of course. The vines are located down on the sandy plain, very close to the D670 which runs from Libourne down to Castillon-la-Bataille.
If you know the roundabout at the intersection of the D670 and the road that runs up to Château Canon-la-Gaffelière (in fact it is the only roundabout on this road in this vicinity) the vines sit in the angle between the two roads running south and southeast away from this junction. The town of St Emilion and indeed Château Ausone is visible in the distance. The soils underfoot are very sandy, the bedrock buried deep beneath. This is typical of this part of the St Emilion appellation, and very different to the terroir at Château Ausone, Château Moulin St Georges or the latest addition to the Vauthier portfolio, Château La Clotte.
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