chateau figeac 1er grand cru classe st emilion

Château Figeac

Château Figeac, 1er Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion, 2023

Name: Château Figeac, 1er Grand Cru Classé, St Emilion
Brand: Château Figeac
Price: 894 GBP

98/100

Inside Bordeaux

96-98/100

The Wine Independent

96-98/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

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in bond

En primeur

2023
6x75cl
EP
£894.00

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

Frederic Faye explained that the Figeac team undertook two green harvests and a light de-leafing. They picked the Merlots early to retain a juiciness, whilst holding on and waiting for ripeness in the Cabernets. Frederic described 2023 as an "oceanic, Atlantic style". This isn't meant in a dismissive way, this is clearly a very serious Figeac, it's in reference to the cool stylish flavours, the ravishing acidity and restrained alcohols. A beautiful prelude of violets, wild, dark berries and graphite. Very sumptuous and engaging on the mid-palate - the Cabernets really sing with aromatic berries flecked with minerals and salts. Layered and thought provoking. It's luxuriant and wonderfully textured, yet it retains a sense of classicism and composure with its tightly coiled core cosseted by majestic tannins. Superb. A blend of 41% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc and 27% Cabernet Sauvignon that attained 13.5% alcohol.

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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

96-98/100

Lisa Perrotti-Brown,

The Wine Independent

A blend of 41% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Franc, and 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2023 Figeac has a pH of 3.68 and it is deep garnet-purple in color. It prances out of the glass with out-going scents of black raspberries and fresh blackcurrants, opening out to reveal an undercurrent of pencil shavings, rose bud tea, iron ore, and wood smoke. The medium-bodied palate delivers a rock-solid structure of firm, grainy tannins and beautiful tension supporting the taut, muscular black fruits, finishing with a long-lingering mineral firework display.

drinking window 2029 - 2050

date of review 05/2024

98/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

Fragrant floral aromatics straight off the bat, peony and violet, and a vibrant juiciness that travels through the palate. Savoury dark fruit character, with flint and textural interest, full of Figeac finesse. 130th vintage of the Manoncourt family at Figeac, and the first vintage where they knew they were Premier Grand Cru Classé A from the start of the season, as it was announced in September 2022. 130mm of rain lower than average over the growing season here, allowing a long slow harvest from September 6 to October 5, 45hl/h yield.

drinking window 2032 - 2050

date of review 05/2024

96-98/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2023 Figeac was cropped at 45hL/ha from September 6 until October 5, one of the longest harvest periods ever. It matured in 100% new oak, as usual. My samples included the 5% vin de presse. This has a very perfumed bouquet: red fruit rather than black, iris flower rather than violet, light sous-bois and tobacco scents deriving from the Cabernets. The palate is medium-bodied, and the Cabernets really "sing" on the entry. Black fruit mixes with graphite and light tobacco notes, surging with fresh acidity and real brightness, or what the French call éclat. There’s gentle grip here—classic Figeac from start to finish, with a subtle marine influence toward the close. This will be a wonderful Saint-Émilion that ranks amongst the best wines of the vintage. Chapeau!

drinking window 2030 - 2065

date of review 04/2024

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14.5%

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.