Wine Dine and Play: Château Toinet Fombrauge

A Saint-Émillion Grand Cru

Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, France

Tasted in October 2010

By Sean Overpeck (CFE)

The city of Saint-Émilion is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was named after the monk Émillion, a traveling confessor, who settled there in the 8th century. Saint-Émilion is located 35 km (22 mi) northeast of Bordeaux, between the towns of Libourne and Castillon-la-Bataille. On the second day of my Bordeaux wine tour, we would be going to the right bank, exploring the ancient city and enjoying lunch with a wine tasting at Château Fombrauge, a Saint-Émillion Grand Cru.

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Château Owner:

Bernard Magrez

Bernard Magrez and I

From vineyards home page:

Château Fombrauge is the largest Grand Cru Classé of Saint-Émillion with a vineyard stretching on 58.60 hectares (143 ac.). It is its exceptional surface area that gives the soil a unique character... A typicity in diversity. Diversity of soils but also multiple exposures donate Château Fombrauge’s wine complexity and identity. To express the richness of this soil, Bernard Magrez combines in Château Fombrauge ancestral knowledge and viticulture of precision. The result? An exquisite wine, a Grand Cru Classé of Saint-Emilion.

Main review:

The other tourist, wine enthusiasts, and I got on the bus at the tourism office in downtown bordeaux beginning day number two for me on this wine tour, before heading east to the Côtes du Rhône. The tour began driving around to see some of the unique historical areas of Bordeaux such as the Quartier St-Michel, Place de la Bourse (royal palace), the clock tower of Grosse Cloche de Bordeaux, and then across the Garonne River on a bridge called the Pont de Pierre. Named in honor of Napoléon (1769-1821), this stone 17-arch bridge was built in 1817, and each arch represents a letter in Napoléon Bonaparte name.

We then drove for another half hour east stopping in the ancient city of Saint-Émillion walking down the old stone steps to the center of the city exploring sights such as the Clocher de l'eglise Monolithe, the La Tour du Roy, and the Église Monolithe de Saint-Émillion.

From their we drove out to the Château Fombrauge, where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch paired with the different wines from the vineyard such as the Bordeaux Blanc and the Prélude de Fombrauge.

We then had the chance to tour and see the wine making process in action as it was harvesting time. The owner Bernard Magrez personally escorted us around the property with the help of a translator as he knew only little amounts of English.

The grape varieties used on his Grand Cru’s are typically 89% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. The Right bank of the Garonne River is known for its Merlot, while the left bank which I toured yesterday is known more for the higher amounts of cabernet.

Once the tour was complete we did some wine tastings, then got back on the bus heading back to Bordeaux. I was a little disappointed that we did not visit any other Château’s on this tour, but am grateful that we all got a chance to see the historical cities and countryside bringing France alive in a way that I would not have seen otherwise.

Bouquet & Palette Notes:

Wine & Grape:	Nose (Bouquet):	Palette Experience:
Prélude de Fombrauge	Winemaker: 75% Merlot 25% Cabernet Franc	Winemaker: A generous wine, rich, powerful, with aromas of undergrowth and ripe fruit.
Bordeaux Blanc	Winemaker: A Bordeaux Blanc with body, power and full-flavor. It has a floral bouquet with toasted notes as well as a certain bitterness. The 2010 has notes of lemon.	Winemaker: 40 % Sauvignon Blanc, 20 % Sauvignon gris, 40 % Sémillon
Magrez Fombrauge blanc	Winemaker: Full-bodied, full-flavored power. A floral nose with toasted notes and a slight bitterness.	Winemaker: 40% Sémillon, 30% Sauvignon Gris, 30% Sauvignon Blanc
Magrez Fombrauge	Winemaker: The bouquet is more subtle, fresher and fruitier than the Fombrauge. 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc	Winemaker: This is a delicious wine, rich in fruit and tannins but subtle. Full-flavored, it also has a long, powerful, fleshy, but also aromatic finish. A wine for laying down.
Château Fombrauge	Winemaker: 89% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 = 95% Merlot 5% cabernet Franc	Winemaker:

Now lets see how I and the critics rate the wines, plus give you some tasting, cost, and general winery information….

96 - 100	is Extraordinary
90 - 95	is Outstanding
80 -89	is Above the Average
70 - 79	is Below the Average
60 - 69	poor / appalling / “Cac”

Review basics:

Wine, Dine, & Play’s Rating	96 points
Decanter	90 points
Wine Enthusiast	92 points
Wines Produced	Red: Heritage White: White Blend, Sémillon,
Grape Blends	Red: Merlot, & Cabernet Franc White: Sauvignon blanc, Sémillon, and Sauvignon Gris

Other Bordeaux Wine or French Restaurant reviews on Wine, Dine, and Play:

Château Lachesnaye, Haut-Médoc AOC

Château Lanessan, Haut-Médoc AOC

Château Prieuré-Lichine, Margaux AOC

La TABLE de Joël Robuchon, Paris

Restaurant Le Gabriel, Bordeaux

The Brasserie at the Café de Paris, Monte-Carlo

Bernard Magrez with Chef Joël Robuchon

Château Fombrauge address:

Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes

33330, France

GPS Coordinates:

44.895161 Latitude

-0.113339 Longitude

Tasting Room Information:

Hours:	Monday - Sunday: 09:00 am - 12:00 pm 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm Central European Time (GMT +1)
Tasting room:	+33 5 57 24 77 12
Website:	Château Toinet Fombrauge
Email:	Contact Winery
Social Media:	Facebook Link
	Facebook Bernard Magrez
	Twitter @bernardmagrez
	Pinterest
	YouTube
	Instagram

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Reviewed by:

Sean Overpeck (CFE)

Picture below was taken at the

Château Fombrauge during the tour

About Sean:

I am based out of St. Petersburg, Florida working in the food service industry for the past twenty years, and am currently with the American Embassy as the Executive Chef in Basra, Iraq. Formally I have worked with groups contracting in Afghanistan, and Antarctica, also working in restaurants in and around Atlanta, Georgia prior to the wars. I have also owned a catering company and served proudly in the United States Army Food Service Program. The idea for Wine, Dine, and Play started in late 2012 after a trip to Jordan, when I was asked by friends to write down the experiences from a few Jordanian restaurants, wine from the region that I tasted, and locations of interest such as Petra. Since that time, over 250 articles have been written on restaurants, including fifteen from the worlds top 100 lists of San Pellegrino and the Elite Travelers Guide. There are articles on exotic world locations such as Victoria Falls, and South African Safari’s; food recipes & Grand Food Dictionaries; ethnic country cuisines such as Afghan, and Peruvian; tasting tours of world cities like Charleston, Cape Town, and Dubai; and of course wine from vineyards in California, Oregon, the Carolina’s, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, with much more to see and write about.

Who is John Galt?

“Culinary perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things,

But in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.”

-Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661)