Grape

47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc

Its Origins

Now a legendary Pemier Grand Cru Classe, Chateau Figeac is also an ancient Bordeaux wine property that dates back as far as the Gallo-Roman period of the 2nd century AD. The Roman owner of the time time, Figeacus, proved the worth of his terroir and so his name passed to the land and the villa. By the late 18th century, Chateau Figeac had already been owned by the same family for almost five centuries and had grown to a massive 200 hectares, making it one of the largest vineyards in Saint Emilion. Over subsequent years this massive scale diminished, as numerous owners bought and sold different parcels and plots - which also explains why, although the ancient buildings are based here the name Figeac appears so many other Chateau. In recent years Chateau Figeac has taken steps to modernise style and production, with less strictly austerity and traditional focus on structure and aromatics and a moderate development of mid-palate weight and mouthfeel. This was achieved by a new management structure followed by a modernisation of winemaking technology, in addition to enlisting the services of the famous wine consultant, Michel Rolland.

What The Critics Say

94-97/100 Vinous, Antonio Galloni

"The 2017 Figeac is magnificent. Beautifully layered and exquisite in the glass, the 2017 possesses remarkable balance and harmony from the very first taste. An utterly beguiling, captivating wine, the 2017 simply has it all. Bright, red-toned fruit, mint, spice, lavender and rose petal overtones flesh out in the glass, but above all else, Figeac is a wine of total harmony. The Grand Vin includes 10% second generation fruit. Even so, production is down around 50%."

18.5/20 JancisRobinson.com, Julia Harding

"Deep cherry red with lots of purple. Lifted and fragrant. Finely and intensely scented. This is very fine: pure and precise, some red fruit on the palate. Succulent, juicy, scented on the palate too. Silky, charming, mouth-watering. So succulent, so precise, unforced." Drink 2025 - 2040

94-96/100 Parker's Wine Advocate, Lisa Perrotti-Brown

"The 2017 Figeac is composed of 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. Very deep garnet-purple in color, the nose sings of Cabernet Sauvignon—bright crushed black currants, blackberries and wild blueberries with wafts of lilacs, pencil shavings, tobacco, tilled earth plus a hint of bay leaves. The medium-bodied mouth is fine, elegant, minerally and incredibly vivacious with tons of energy. Bright and refreshing with firm, grainy tannins and a provocative hint of chew, it finishes with great length. This should age wonderfully. 100% new oak was used for this sample and it is very well-integrated. -- From the outset after the frosts, managing director Frédéric Faye made rigorous efforts isolate the frost-affected vines and monitor/tend to them individually. Incredibly, this equated to around 20,000 vines that needed to be managed separately. “At the beginning, the lag time for the second-generation fruit was 3.5 weeks and by harvest it was only 18 days,” he commented. And, of course, these were harvested separately - in many passes, as it turned out. “One plot was harvested four times!” Faye mentioned. Figeac bought five new vatting tanks to co-ordinate the vinification of all the separate pickings. To manage the tannins of the second-generation fruit, less extraction was used along with lower fermentation temperatures, and the vatting time was three weeks as opposed to one month for the first-generation. In the end, Faye considered the final blend with a proportion of around 10% second-generation fruit for the Merlot component to be superior to the blend with first-generation fruit alone. The effect here is barely detectable, adding just enough spice, tannin interest and intensity to give the discernible first-generation fruit a little boost."