Magrez-Fombrauge 2012

A luxury cuvée from the bigger estate of Château Fombrauge, this wine is a visionary project from Bernard Magrez along with his winemaking team and consultant Michel Rolland. This micro cuvée of 4,000 bottles, a blend of 59% Merlot and 41% Cabernet Franc, is another strong, successful effort. Although this wine saw its Cabernet Franc picked very late (October 17 and 18), it has no sense of overripeness, but a beautiful inky purple color and a sweet blueberry and blackberry nose intermixed with tar, graphite and some spicy oak. It is medium to full-bodied, elegant, pure, and while not the monster that its older siblings (2010, 2009 and 2005) were, it is still a big, rich, impressively concentrated St.-Emilion. Drink it over the next 15 or more years.