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Magrez-Fombrauge 2011

RegionBordeaux
Subregion France > Bordeaux > Right Bank > St Emilion
ColourRed
TypeStill
Grape VarietyMerlot

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Tasting Notes

A flowery nose of ripe plums, blueberries, truffles and roasted meats jumps from the glass of this inky/purple-colored 2011. Made from a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, it reveals super-richness, velvety tannin, a skyscraper-like mid-palate, and not a hard edge to be found. It is another remarkable effort in this challenging vintage. Its 14.5% natural alcohol is incredible given the growing conditions. This gorgeous boutique St.-Emilion, one of the stars of the vintage, will evolve effortlessly for 15-20 years. By the way, I recently had the 2000 Magrez-Fombrauge (which I believe is the first vintage), and at age 14 it was outstanding.

96
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (212), April 2014

The nose is rather taciturn with subdued dark cherry and blueberry fruit. The palate is actually well balanced with pure cassis and blackberry fruit, a fine net of tannins with fine precision and length. Perhaps the growing season has contained this habitually ostentatious wine. Not bad. Tasted April 2012.

88/90
Neal Martin, RobertParker.com, April 2012

I like the blueberry and blackberry character with minerals and hints of oak. Full and velvety. Well made and very polished for the vintage.

91/92
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, April 2012

The inky/purple-colored 2011, a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, offers loads of cassis, blueberry and raspberry fruit along with a chalky minerality. It is a full-bodied, dense, long wine built like an NFL middle linebacker. Filled with power, intensity, texture and richness, it will handsomely pay dividends over the next two decades.

Virtually every vintage of this wine has been massive, with the off-the-charts sort of richness that tends to provoke a -love it or leave it- attitude from wine buyers. It comes from the finest parcel of the Fombrauge vineyard (owned by Bernard Magrez) and is meant to last 25 years.

92/95
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (200), April 2012
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.