Dinner at Château Faugères, 2015
Subsequent to my recent updates to my Château Faugères, Château Péby Faugères and Château Cap de Faugères profiles, I uncovered these notes on three wines tasted with dinner during my visit to the estate in 2014. Although the notes are now a little dated, my visit having been about eight months ago, it seemed to me that the notes still deserved publication. First, because two of the wines are from 2005 (which I recently revisited in a much broader tasting of the vintage), and I haven’t previously published notes on these wines. Secondly, because one of the wines is distinctive, being one of a small number of right bank white wines which originates from the limestone plateau rather than from more lowly, gravelly or sandy terroirs.
The 2012 Château Faugères Blanc is a blend of one-third each of Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Semillon, from 1 hectare of vines planted in 2006 on the limestone plateau near to the vineyards of Château Valandraud and Château Fleur Cardinale, sitting just above the slopes on which Château Faugères is to be found. This location is a real talking point for the Faugères team who point out that although that there are an increasing number of white wines being made on the right bank only four such wines come from the highest quality terroir of the limestone plateau. These are apparently the white wines of Château Fombrauge, owned by Bernard Magrez (to be precise, these vines are now considered part of Château Magrez Fombrauge), the aforementioned Château Valandraud, owned by Jean-Luc Thunevin, Château Monbousquet, owned by Gérard Perse and, of course, Château Faugères.
The young vines first bore enough fruit for a commercial release in 2009, so this vintage is only the fourth release. I found in it an attractive, smoky, matchsticky freshness that I rather liked, although underneath this there was a rather full, fat, ripe and also rather sweet fruit character which to me felt a little forward and obvious. It is an appealing wine, one that demonstrates the potential of the raw material, although the very forward fruit is perhaps in keeping with the overall Faugères style, which certainly leans towards the modern.
