Chateau Fonplegade St. Emilion Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Fonplegade

Chateau Fonplegade St. Emilion, Bordeaux wine producer profile, with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Fonplegade is located close to the south, east portion of St. Emilion village.  If you’re visiting Chateau Fonplegade and looking at the historic Roman pathways still visible today, it’s easy to see how Fonplegade could be one of the oldest Bordeaux vineyards in the Right Bank. Ancient Roman ruins date the birth of the estate as a vineyard to about 400 AD. The name Fonplgade means full or bent fountain. It was derived from the clay terroir, which supports numerous, small, running springs in various bent shapes that are located on the estate.

Chateau Fonplegade

Skipping ahead about 1,500 years, in 1852, Jean-Pierre Beylot purchased Chateau Fonplegade. Beylot built the magnificent chateau that is still on the Fonplegade property today. In 1863, Château Fonplegade was sold to the Duke of Morny. Morny was the step brother of Napoleon the 3rd who bought the property in 1953.  This changed again most recently in 2004. when Denise and Stephen Adams bought the Right Bank estate of Chateau Fonplegade for 30 million Euros from Armand Moueix.

After a complete and very, expensive renovation of the Chateau Fonplegade vineyards, chateau and wine making facilities, the Adams family started taking a different approach with their Bordeaux vineyard management techniques. They began a biodynamic, farming program starting with the 2009 vintage. Michel Rolland is the consultant and Jean-Christophe Meyrou is the new managing director. The Adams family own other wine making estates in the Right Bank including Chateau L’Enclos in Pomerol.

The 18.5 hectare St. Emilion vineyard of Chateau Fonplegade is planted over limestone based soils to 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. The remaining Cabernet Sauvignon vines were removed in 2010. The vineyard is planted to a density of 6,500 vines per hectare in the front of the chateau. Behind the estate, on the hill sides, the vines are planted to a vine density of 8,500 vines per hectare. On average, the vines are 25 years of age. The oldest vines date back to an average of 50 years of age.

To vinify the wines of Chateau Fonplegade, the fruit is whole berry fermented following a cold maceration for 5 days. The wine is vinified in 8, thermo regulated, large oak vats that are 90 hectoliters. 30% of the wine is barrel fermented in 500 liter barrels for micro vinification. Malolactic fermentation takes place in new oak barrels. The wine is aged in 85% new, French oak for 18 to 24 months, depending on the quality and character of the vintage.

On average the production is close to 5,000 cases of Chateau Fonplegade per vintage. There is a second wine, Fleur de Fonplegade.

www.fonplegade.com/