Château de Fesles: Tasting & Drinking
It was not that long ago that I would have considered my experiences with the 1990 La Chapelle from Château de Fesles to have represented the tasting of a mature wine. How wrong I was. The wines of Château de Fesles, in great vintages, clearly have the ability to age gracefully for many decades. I have tasted vintages as far back as 1924, and from great years – such as 1947 – the wines are still stunning, rich and dark in character, and yet still fresh and alive. My tasting of these wines in late 2011 with the Bordeaux branch of the Boivin family was a fabulous experience which opened my eyes to the potential of these wines. Having said that, I am not so sure that ‘recent’ vintages such as 1990 – which I now of course regard as a mere youngster – have the potential to age in the same manner, but only time will tell with certainty.
In the meantime, very recent vintages such as 1996 and 1997 can be delightful, when the bottle is a good one of course. Good bottles can be superb. The most recent vintages, produced as part of the Grands Chais de France empire, are very few, the deal having only been struck in 2008. Nevertheless the 2009, tasted very early in its life, held much promise. Perhaps, rather than being stultifying as I had feared, the ownership of this estate by Grands Chais de France might just provide the investment Château de Fesles really needed. After all, big business has brought great success to Bordeaux; some of that region’s most magnificent sweet wines today come from estates owned by insurance companies or motor manufacturers. There is no reason not to believe that, with the appropriate leadership and direction on the ground, the same success can not be enjoyed by the team at Château de Fesles. (23/8/02, updated 22/8/06, 11/8/09, 1/12/11, 1/10/16, 24/10/25)
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