Chateau Faugeres 2019

JAMES SUCKLING: "A full-bodied red with fine tannins and plenty of plum, milk-chocolate and walnut aromas and flavors. It’s creamy and attractively textured. Rather flamboyant for the vintage. Generous and formed. Drink after 2024."

DECANTER: "Lovely perfumed cherries on the nose, so aromatic and pleasing. This is upfront and juicy straight from the get go, with real purity of juice, crystal clean and bright. Tannins are fine and firm, supportive, but it's the red cherries and strawberries taking centre stage while the oak edges and cinnamon spice come in after a minute or so alongside some dark chocolate notes adding structure and complexity. Perhaps needs a little longer to meld together a bit more but this is lively and fun."

JEB DUNNUCK: "I always love this wine, and the 2019 Château Faugères is no exception. A big, pleasure-bent beauty, it's loaded with darker, chocolaty fruit as well as leafy herbs and some classic Saint-Emilion chalkiness and rocky mineral notes. More spice, tobacco, and leather notes emerge with time in the glass, and it's medium to full-bodied, has a plush, sexy, rounded texture, no hard edges, and a great finish. It's a beautiful Saint-Emilion to enjoy over the coming 10-15 years."

FALSTAFF: "Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, dezente Ockerrandaufhellung. Reife Pflaumen, ein Hauch von Dörrobst und Kardamom, zart nach Nougat und kandierten Orangenzesten. Kraftvoll, süße Textur, reife schwarze Kirschen, gut integrierte Tannine, mineralisch und anhaftend, verfügt im Finish über Kraft und Frische, gutes Reifepotenzial."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Deeply colored, the wine is fresh, vibrant and rich. The fruit blends black cherries, plums and strawberry with dried flowers, forest leaves and spice. Plushly-textured, long and packed with loads of ripe, sweet, dark red fruits, chocolate, licorice and spice, the soft, polished finish tastes and feels great. Drink from 2023-2038."

WINE SPECTATOR: " Broad and extracted in feel, this pushes dark fig, black currant and bitter plum paste flavors to the fore, along with notes of espresso crema, alder and vanilla. Stays rich yet focused through the finish, leaving a lightly toothy echo at the end. Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2024 through 2037. 10,800 cases made."

WEINWISSER: "70 % Merlot, 21 % Cabernet Franc, 9 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 40 hl/ha. Sattes Rubinrot. Komplexes Bouquet mit zarter Rauchnote von dem Barrique, schwarzbeerige Konturen, dahinter Leder. Am mittleren Gaumen mit eleganter Struktur und blitzblank polierten, unterlegten Tanninen. Im gebündelten Finale schwarzer Pfeffer und getrockneter Rosmarin."