Château Fonplégade: Vineyards
I have already made some comments on the location and position of the Château Fonplégade vineyards in my opening paragraphs. The very favourable position on the clay and limestone slopes has long been recognised, and this is quite clear even when we look back to comments on the estate written more than a century ago. The authors of the 1908 Cocks et Féret noted that the vineyards occupied a position in a shell-like depression (shaped “like a species of conch” was a more literal translation that continues to amuse me) which is located in the middle of the slope. As a consequence the vines are perfectly sheltered from the winds coming from the north and west; I am sure that this depression is the result of erosion, over many millennia, by the numerous fresh water springs here.
Curiously, while the vines nestled in this depression are part of the Fonplégade estate, those surrounding the vineyard and château on three sides, higher up the slope, all belonged to Château Magdelaine. Now that estate has been absorbed into the newly created Château Belair-Monange (the roofs visible beyond the vines, pictured), however, they are Moueix vines (albeit a different branch of the Moueix family to that which once owned this estate). Below the château and vineyard, meanwhile, is the St Emilion co-operative. The vineyard’s position, both mid-slope and sheltered, no doubt does much to ensure good ripening.
At the centre of the vineyard is one of the fresh water springs, over which a shrine-like stone housing has been built. The spring water is then channelled through the centre of the vineyard along a stone watercourse. The soils are limestone and clay in the upper sections, with more sand in the lower sections. Having said that, the new owners have determined with greater specificity the variation in terroir, separating the soil types into seven levels running from the plateau down the slope to the sandy plain. Further granularity comes as the vineyard is then divided up into 27 parcels, each managed on an individual basis. The average age of the vines is more than 25 years, and the oldest vines date to 1954.
