Château de Fonbel

Château de Fonbel, St Emilion Grand Cru, 2020

Name: Château de Fonbel, St Emilion Grand Cru
Brand: Château de Fonbel
Price: 247.07 GBP

89/100

Inside Bordeaux

91/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

92/100

The Wine Independent

86/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 2018 2019 2020 2022

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in bond

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2020
75cl
DP
£20.59
2020
12x75cl
DP
£247.07

delivery information

GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of upmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

86/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2020 Château de Fonbel has a light and airy bouquet of blackberry, bilberry, cedar and cigar box scents. The palate is medium-bodied with scrawny tannins and balsamic-tinged black fruit, leading to a rather monotonous finish. This is a disappointing showing, which could be due to the bottle. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

drinking window 2026 - 2034

date of review 11/2024

91/100

William Kelley,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

No tasting notes available

drinking window 2023 - 2035

date of review 04/2023

92/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

A blend of 65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, and 7% Carmenere, the 2020 de Fonbel is deep garnet-purple in color. It comes bounding out with notions of boysenberries, stewed plums, and fresh blueberries, plus suggestions of pencil shavings, lavender, and tilled soil. The medium-bodied palate is vibrant and expressive, with very soft tannins and a lively backbone, finishing with lots of energy.

drinking window 2024 - 2040

date of review 03/2023

89/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

Clay-sand soils with areas of gravel, more of a challenge than Ausone and La Clotte in the conditions of 2020, but this is extremely well handled, with sweet red cherry, redcurrant and raspberry fruit, ripe with touch of smoked oak (although no new oak used) and coffee beans. In conversion for organic certification since this vintage 2020, this is showing a little less density than the other Vauthier wines in the range, but it is unfussy and well made, easy to recommend.

drinking window 2024 - 2032

date of review 02/2023

product details

Specifications

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abv:

14%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.