Chateau Fonplegade 2023

VINUM: "Auch dieses Jahr mit Komplexität und ausladender Frucht, ungemein reintönig, klar, verführerisch; knackige Frucht, Dichte und Rasse, Tannine wie aus dem Stein gemeisselt, sehr lang und ausgewogen. Klasse!"

DECANTER: "Ageing in 50% new oak barrels, crafted from vines averaging 30 years of age, with certified organic viticulture for the 2023 vintage, this wine shines brightly via 18.5ha of top flight limestone plateau and clay and limestone slope soils: very fresh with wet stone and juicy plum fruit aromas. Excellent mid palate juiciness, with a suave expression of palate depth. As one would expect from the vintage, more red than black fruit, but even more wet stone! I like the overall tannic finesse, if just a touch high-toned. Give it time to soften with the barrel ageing, and this wine may get a higher score once bottled. Harvested from 15 September to 3 October."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Orange blossoms, raspberries, flowers, and cherries, with touches of licorice, mint, and sea salt fill the perfume and the palate. The wine is medium-bodied, silky, vibrant, fresh, and nuanced with an oceanic air to the red berries, and chocolate from start to finish. The wine blends 85% Merlot, and 15% Cabernet Franc, 14.5% ABV. Drink from 2027-2047."

JAMES SUCKLING: "Flavors of blackberry, dark chocolate and coffee beans with a pine-like tinge. Medium body. Fine, round tannins. Lovely already."

JEB DUNNUCK: "Cassis, tobacco, truffly earth, and chocolaty oak emerge from the 2023 Château Fonplegade, a richer 2023 with medium to full-bodied depth, ripe, velvety tannins, and outstanding length. It's a bigger, richer effort in the vintage that brings solid depth. The blend is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, raised in 40% new barrels, 30% in once-used oak, 20% in concrete eggs, and the balance in amphora."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2023 Fonplegade starts off a bit closed, with notes of tar and wild strawberries leading to emerging scents of cedar, sassafras, black pepper, and black raspberries. The medium-bodied palate has a chewiness coming through from the oak but is otherwise soft and graceful, finishing on an earthy note. The blend is 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc."