Today sees the release of the last of the top scoring wines from the Wine Advocate - potentially the greatest Figeac ever which is available at GBP 1860.
'Tasted on four separate occasions, and in the end, only one (banded) score became inevitable.' - 98-100 points, Neal Martin
It was Thierry Manoncourt, great-great grandson of Henri de Chevremont who, soon after the Second World War, developed the vineyards and the wine as we know them today. He recognised the uniqueness of the soil, choosing, unusually, to plant Cabernet Sauvignon (35%) and Cabernet Franc (35%) alongside Merlot (30%) vines, the predominant grape of St-Emilion. It is this unique blend that gives Figeac its hallmark elegance, sumptuousness and structure which, in 2016, has made it one of the wines of the vintage.
Along with the Grand Vin comes its deeply impressive sibling, the 2016 Petit Figeac; this was a real eye-opener and more than a match for many ‘first wines’. This is another fine example of how second wines have trimuphed in 2016 especially where the gulf in price between first and second wine is at its widest... Sitting at just 23% of the price of the Grand Vin, the 2016 Petit Figeac looks like one of the smartest purchases of the 2016 campaign.
Another major release of the morning is La Conseillante also at GBP 1860, one of both James Suckling’s and Antonio Galloni’s ‘stars of the vintage’ with Suckling simply saying 'I am speechless'. It is thrilling to see that the estate is once again reaching something approaching its potential. As Neal Martin puts it “This is an estate that wants to be at the top of the tree and given the propitious nature of their terroir and their refurbished winery, there is nothing to suggest that it will not happen.”
Virtually drawing the 2016 Bordeaux En Primeur campaign to a close (with a mere handful of wines to come) we finally have the long-awaited second tranche of Lafite Rothschild which means we can offer the wine at GBP 6000. As James Suckling (who gives the wine a straight, unbanded 100 points) asked the question:
'Perhaps the greatest Lafite since the legendary 1959?'
