2021 Château Figeac

A red with lots of dark-fruit, graphite and tar aromas and flavors. It’s medium-bodied and very integrated with firm, polished tannins and a long finish. Racy and compact. Silky texture. (2022)

Unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage on the Right Bank, the 2021 Château Figeac checks in as 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Cabernet Franc, and 29% Merlot, brought up all in new barrels. It's a gorgeous, medium to full-bodied, concentrated, and textured 2019 with remarkable purity in its darker cassis and fresh plum fruits as well as notes of tobacco, truffly earth, cedar pencil, and spice. While it's easy to compare this to wines from the Médoc given its high Cabernet content, it has beautiful Right Bank character and is a classic, balanced, incredibly impressive Figeac that will benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and cruise for over two decades. It reminds me slightly of the 2014. (2022)

The 2021 Figeac is a blend of 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Cabernet Franc, and 29% Merlot, with the Merlot harvested from 21 September to 1 October. Deep garnet-purple colored, it slowly unfurls in the glass, releasing languid notions of redcurrants, black raspberries, and mulberries, followed by hints of iron ore, violets, star anise, and menthol with a hint of graphite. Medium-bodied, the palate is elegant with ripe, grainy Cabernet-led tannins, featuring great tension and lots of bright red fruit and mineral layers, finishing long and ferrous. pH 3.65. (2022)