Château Figeac is a renowned winery located in the Saint-Émilion appellation of Bordeaux, France. With a history dating back to the 2nd century AD, the estate has been producing some of the finest wines in the region for centuries. The vineyards are planted with a combination of traditional Bordeaux grape varieties, including Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The winemaking process combines traditional and modern techniques, resulting in elegant, complex wines with a long finish. The flagship Château Figeac is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, while the second wine, Petit-Figeac, is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Château Figeac is a favourite among wine enthusiasts and collectors around the world, and its commitment to quality and excellence is evident in every bottle.
Deep garnet-purple in colour, it soars out of the glass with opening notes of freshly crushed red and black cherries, mulberries, and ripe, juicy plums, followed by hints of violets, damp soil, cedar chest, crushed rocks, and pencil shavings. The medium-bodied, elegantly styled palate features bags of freshness and exquisitely ripe, beautifully poised tannins to support the bright, energetic black and red fruit layers, finishing on a lingering fragrant earth note.
This is recognizable as being cut from the same cloth as old-school Figeac, but all the recent vineyard and winemaking improvements have unveiled the beautifully ripe, intense, nuanced potential here. Bravo to managing director/winemaker Frédéric Faye and his team! Although there is a lot to love about this wine right now, give it 5-6 years for the oak to fully integrate and the underlying perfume suggestions to emerge, then enjoy over the next 20-25 years or more.
Production was down by half this year—only producing 55,000 bottles. Made from 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet-purple colored 2017 Figeac gives up expressive notes of black cherries, plum preserves, black raspberries and kirsch, giving way to hints of dried leaves, cinnamon toast and warm cassis plus a waft of lavender. Medium-bodied, the palate has wonderful vibrancy with a refreshing line cutting through the crunchy black fruits and a firm, finely grained frame, finishing long and spicy.
Château Figeac is a renowned winery located in the Saint-Émilion appellation of Bordeaux, France. With a history dating back to the 2nd century AD, the estate has been producing some of the finest wines in the region for centuries. The vineyards are planted with a combination of traditional Bordeaux grape varieties, including Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The winemaking process combines traditional and modern techniques, resulting in elegant, complex wines with a long finish. The flagship Château Figeac is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon, while the second wine, Petit-Figeac, is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Château Figeac is a favourite among wine enthusiasts and collectors around the world, and its commitment to quality and excellence is evident in every bottle.
The recent leaps and bounds in improvements that have occurred at this great estate, equating to a dramatic increase in intensity and complexity—without compromising the husky, soft-spoken, sultry voice that is Figeac—is a monumental achievement. Kudos to Frederic Faye and his team for so beautifully expressing what was clearly an extraordinary vintage at Chateau Figeac!
Blended of 29% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet-purple coloured 2015 Figeac reveals vibrant black cherries, cassis, red currants, black plums, and liquorice notes with touches of cigar boxes, bouquet garni, potpourri, damp soil and black pepper. Medium-bodied, delicately crafted and with nuanced, quietly intense layers of vivacious red and black fruits, the palate features a solid frame of polished, rounded tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and minerally.
The 2014 Figeac builds on its promise from barrel and delivers a very fulfilling bouquet with red plum, crushed strawberry, cedar and light graphite aromas that I suspect will close down for a period after bottling. (The bottle tasted at the château displayed a subtle incense aroma.) The palate is very well defined with a crisp line of acidity, sorbet fresh in the mouth and fanning out towards its structured, tensile finish. It is a great Figeac, a superb forerunner to the brilliant 2015 and it should not be underestimated. Chapeau winemaker Frédéric Faye and his team.
The 2012 Figeac put in a marvellous showing under strict blind conditions and it has clearly blossomed in bottle. It has an immediately engaging bouquet with vivid blackberry and raspberry fruit, wonderful mineralité and fine delineation. This is very composed, with a touch of graphite that almost takes you towards Pauillac rather than Saint Emilion. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, well-judged acidity, harmonious and lively with commendable precision towards the finish. This is a sophisticated and well-crafted Figeac that appears to be on an upward trajectory.
Deep garnet colored, the 2010 Figeac bursts from the glass with gregarious scents of baked blueberries, black cherry compote and chocolate box with hints of camphor, pencil lead and iron ore. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has beautifully ripe, velvety tannins and bold freshness supporting the generous fruit, finishing long and layered.
The medium garnet colored 2009 Figeac features a very pretty perfume of rose hip tea, lilacs and cinnamon stick over a core of red and black currant preserves plus hints of dried herbs and sweaty saddles. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers bags of savory fruit layers with plenty of floral sparks, framed by rounded tannins, finishing on a earthy note.
The medium garnet colored 2009 Figeac features a very pretty perfume of rose hip tea, lilacs and cinnamon stick over a core of red and black currant preserves plus hints of dried herbs and sweaty saddles. Medium to full-bodied, the palate delivers bags of savory fruit layers with plenty of floral sparks, framed by rounded tannins, finishing on a earthy note.
The 2006 Figeac is a success for what was a modest Right Bank vintage. The Cabernet Sauvignon is most expressive on the nose at the moment, reserved but nicely defined with pencil lead and light ferrous scents emerging. The palate is medium-bodied with a dash of pepper on the entry. This is youthful but approachable, not long in the mouth, but "cool, calm and collected." This is a fine Figeac destined to give a couple of decade's worth of pleasure.
Tasted at the Château Figeac vertical at the property. While I enjoy the 2005 Figeac, there is still a sense of a potential great Saint Emilion falling short of what it could have been. Now with ten years on the clock, the nose is cool and focused, very Pauillac-like in style, the Cabernet Sauvignon driving it along. With time it begins to open and loosen its tie, revealing a pleasing licorice scent. The palate is medium bodied with a pleasurable, supple, fleshy entry.
It seems to offer black rather than red fruit at the moment, the acidity well judged. So why the parsimonious score? Well, it doesn't build on this promise, as if it runs out of ideas two-thirds of the way through. It takes the easy option and declines to offer that tension and complexity on the finish that certainly the aromatics deserve. In fact, this might well be the only wine where I prefer the 2006 to the 2005.
Tasted at the Château Figeac vertical at the property. It is some years since I last tasted the 2000 Figeac. There is a valid argument that it is being eclipsed by the 2001, but it is still a fine Saint Emilion. The nose is clean and fresh with strong graphite aromas, very Left Bank in style with black truffle and smoky notes developing.
The palate is masculine and rather austere at first, though I notice that it gains fleshiness in the glass. It is nicely weighted, but does not quite deliver the sensuality or joie-de-vivre of the 2001 (which is actually like a lot of millennial Bordeaux). Let's see how it matures over the next few years, but my money would be on the 2001.
Tasted at the Château Figeac vertical at the property from magnum, the 1998 Château Figeac is one of the best wines from this era, one where I feel that this Saint Emilion lost its way a little. It has a conservative nose, at least for the habitually opulent Right Banks in this vintage, with meaty, dried blood aromas infusing the rustic red berry fruit, later developing light ferrous/copper piping scents. The palate is medium-bodied with a fine line of acidity. The tannins are now softened with age and there is a tang of orange zest interlacing the red berry fruit on the finish.
Slightly grainy in texture, it does not offer the opulence of other Right Bank Saint Emilions, though it is keeping with the Figeac style. I would start opening bottles now, however this 1998 will keep giving pleasure for another two decades.
