CHÂTEAU FOMBRAUGE
2020 Grand Cru Classé Saint Emilion
Very linear and tight with a firmness and brightness. Blackcurrant, earth, and lemon rind character throughout. Fresh and racy. Needs time to open. Drink after 2026. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2023)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2020 Fombrauge is enticing right out of the gate. Cherries in liqueur, spice, rose petal, menthol, licorice and chocolate make a strong first impression. Racy and deep, with notable textural resonance, Fombrauge is terrific in 2020. There's plenty of opulence and yet the 2020 is nicely balanced. Drinking range: 2025 - 2040 Rating: 92 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)
Richly expressed sweet blackberry and red cherry fruit offset by bitter chocolate shavings, plenty of volume through the mid palate, well executed, careful and precise, with firm tannins that form shoulders and walls. Bernard Magrez owner, Olivier Desmond director, Michel Rolland consultant at this 58ha estate. Heavy bottle. Drinking range: 2024 - 2038 Rating: 93 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2023)
The 2020 Fombrauge, so impressive in barrel, has a very opulent bouquet in bottle with ravishing red cherries and cassis fruit. It's a little oaky, but there is enough fruit to soak that up. The palate is dense and powerful, clearly showing quite a bit of extraction, and I was hoping to find more complexity coming through on the finish. Not bad at all, but this falls just below my expectations from a few months back. Tasted twice with consistent notes. Drinking range: 2026 - 2042 Rating: 91 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Feb 2023)
This has aromas of cigar box, cedar, blueberries and pine cones. Firm, polished tannins provide sturdy support, yet remain silky. Medium to full body. Very fine and classy. Better from 2025. Rating: 94 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Dec 2022)
This wine starts off well with bold fruit and some decent structure but it finishes too blunt and flat and I cannot seem to find any length on the back of the palate. I am happy to note that this sample might be a little tired, but it seems fresh enough on the nose, so my only choice is to say what I see and therefore it is an adequate wine only, with an uninspiring finish and a ‘?’, too. Rating: 16+? Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jun 2021)
The 2020 Fombrauge is packed with blackberry jam, chocolate, licorice, spice and mocha. This bold, opulent Saint-Émilion is impeccably balanced. Yes, there is a ton of intensity and richness, but Fombrauge avoids the excesses of some of Bernard Magrez's other wines. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 91-93 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Jun 2021)
The 2020 Fombrauge has a crisp blackberry, blueberry and cedar nose, subtle pine aromas filtering through with aeration. The medium-bodied palate delivers crunchy black fruit laced with cedar and very light ash notes. Good acidity here, and nice structure; a convincingly more classic Fombrauge, this, with fine grip toward the finish. I approve. Drinking range: 2028 - 2050 Rating: 92-94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2021)
The inky-hued 2020 Château Fombrauge is another wonderful Saint-Emilion that shines on all accounts. Possessing terrific purity in its cassis-styled fruits as well as notes of violets, chocolate, and chalky minerality, this puppy is medium to full-bodied, has a great mid-palate, background oak, and outstanding length. Tasted twice. Rating: 93-95 Jeb Dunnuck, www.jebdunnuck.com (May 2021)
Confident and structured, offering a velvet texture and dense plum and blackberry fruits, plenty of punch with ground coffee on the finish. Now one of the largest estates in St-Emilion at 58ha. Olivier Desmond technical director. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 91 Jane Anson, Decanter (May 2021)
Dark lustrous blackish crimson. Aromatic and then very sweet palate entry with some pretty emphatic tannins and acid sort of bolted on at the end. Extremely concentrated and flattering with impressive persistence. A little savoury quality on the end so this is not sickly. This could be very appealing. So of course, as usual, I am scoring it without taking the bottle weight into account. Drinking range: 2026 - 2042 Rating: 16.5 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2021)
This is really finely textured with beautiful tannins that run the length of the wine and go on and on. It’s full-bodied, yet refined and poised. Pretty finish. Best ever? Rating: 94-95 James Suckling, www.jamessuckling.com (Apr 2021)
Château Fombrauge
Chateau Fombrauge is the largest St. Emilion vineyard with over 128 acres. The Bordeaux wine vineyard is planted to 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. The vines average 30 years of age and are planted to a density of 5,600 vines per hectare. Owned by Bernard Magrez and consulted by Michel Rolland, this Right Bank property strives to produce the best Bordeaux wine possible. Cold macerations, 4-5 week fermentations in small wood vats are some of the techniques employed by the property. Close to 14,000 cases are produced in most vintages. The estate has a second wine, Le Cadran de Fombrauge which produces over 100,000 bottles of this Bordeaux wine per year.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those on the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do contact our private client team via email or on 020 7018 0187.
Ordering
Prices are all in bond by the case size stated.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment to buy wines on release, as long as the release price is within the upper and lower price bands set by you on the pre-order form. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability but providing this firm commitment to buy effectively gives you priority and is a good idea for the most desirable wines.
Wines listed on the website can be ordered in the usual way via the website wishlist order form. You can also send orders directly to our private client team via email. Please note that, for the most sought-after wines, priority will be given to those who ordered the same wines last year and to those that have pre-ordered.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of email confirmation. Pre-orders are not binding if the release price is above your upper price band.
Invoices are all raised at the in bond price (excluding any duty and VAT) which will become payable at the prevailing rates when the wines arrive in the UK, should you wish to take duty paid delivery.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We regret we cannot accept credit cards for en primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (at LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £500. Orders below this total will be charged an administration and handling fee of £16.50+ VAT when invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery of 2023 Bordeaux bought en primeur is expected during 2026. Delivery dates may vary as wines are shipped from Bordeaux at different times.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes). Immediate payment of invoices is then required by cash, cheque, debit card or bank transfer. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option but please note that confirmed orders are still binding even if the final invoice has not yet been issued.
Please specify on your wishlist order form where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. If this is to a third-party bonded warehouse, please specify the relevant account details. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue a second invoice for duty and VAT at the prevailing rate when the wines are available for delivery.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the format you want. While most of our listings are for 75cl bottles, we can source wines in any format that is offered by the Château. Please note that format requests cannot be changed once wines have been invoiced. Additional charges for special formats do apply and are as follows:-
- +£18.00 per case of 12 half-bottles
- +£30.00 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£7.50 per case of 3 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£11.00 per case of 6 Magnums
- +£45.00 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£60.00 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.
Storage Options:
Wines bought en primeur won't arrive in the UK until 2026. If you do not wish to take home delivery at that point, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our private client team for more information.