History
While wine making at Fombrauge dates back to the 15th century, the wines made back then, I can assure you, do not share any resemblance to the wines produced by the Bernard Magrez owned St. Emilion estate of Magrez Fombrauge today!
The history of Magrez Fombrauge does not back nearly that far, in fact 2000 is the debut vintage for Magrez Fombrauge. Bernard Magrez purchased the Saint Emilion estate back in 1999.
One of the first moves Bernard Magrez made after buying Fombrauge was to hire the famous Bordeaux wine consultant, Michel Rolland. With a commitment from Michel Rolland, and the willingness, coupled with the ability to spend any amount of money to make the best wine possible at this Right Bank estate, they have done a lot with this unique terroir.
All vineyard management techniques is self sustainable. At Chateau Magrez Fombrauge, horses are used to work the soil for the red wine grapes, exclusively.
Chateau Magrez Fombrauge is a modern styled Bordeaux wine indeed. It is also powerful, deep, concentrated, rich and complex and in the top vintages, it demands 10-15 or maybe even 20 years to come around.
Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking
The 3.5 hectare vineyard of Magrez Fombrauge is planted for red and white wine grapes. For the red wine, the vineyard is planted to 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. Located on the Cotes of St. Emilion, the fruit source comes from a specific section of the much larger, vineyard of Chateau Fombrauge.
Even though this is not a sizable block of vines, the roughly 3 hectares here are divided into 3 separate parcels of vines. The vines are old. The vines range in age from 60 to 70 years of age. Yields are kept low at the property. They can be close to 20 hectoliters per hectare. The terroir consists of chalk over limestone soil.
Chateau Magrez Fombrauge produces a small amount of dry, white Bordeaux wine from a blend that is often close to 40% Semillon, 30% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Sauvignon Gris.
The terroir for the white wine is mostly limestone based soils. The wine was previously known as Chateau Fombrauge Blanc. That change took place with the 2001 vintage. Today, the wine is sold as Magrez Fombrauge Blanc.
To produce the red wine of Magrez Fombrauge, the wine is made using micro vinification techniques, which calls for the grapes to be vinified in 100% new, French oak barrels.
The barrels are small. Each barrel is 40 hectoliters in size. The grapes are hand destemmed and are whole berry fermented, meaning that the fruit is not crushed. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrel.
The wine of Magrez Fombrauge is aged in a combination of 100% new, French oak barrels and terracotta jars that range in size from 200 liters, up to 450 liters. Production of the red wine of Magrez Fombrauge is close to 350 cases of Bordeaux wine per year.
To produce the white Bordeaux wine of Magrez Fombrauge, the grapes are vinified in new, French oak barrels. There is no malolactic fermentation or skin contact. The wine is aged on its lees.
The blend is usually the same as what it planted in the vineyard, 40% Semillon, 30% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Sauvignon Gris. In select vintages, there is a special, white Bordeaux wine produced called Sublime de Frombrauge, which is made from 100% Semillon.
