Château Figeac 2022

Deep nose with graphite, gravel, dark hazelnut chocolate, blackberries, blueberries and truffles. Really taut and tense on the palate with fresh, vibrating tannins and a very long, chalky finish. Compact. 35% merlot, 34% cabernet franc and 31% cabernet sauvignon. Lots of vibrancy and muscled tension here from an extremely hot and dry year. Drink from 2029 when the wood spices get more integrated.

This wowed during Primeurs and it has maintained its promise now it's been bottled. Gloriously alive with a beautifully expressive nose - dark fruit, liquorice and floral scents. The energy on the palate is incredible - this pulses with life given the high acidity and juicy red berry fruit but this also has a touch of creaminess alongside softly fleshy tannins that give the weight and structure. There's power and concentration but almost hidden underneath the cooling freshness and such charming texture. Effortless winemaking on show, taking the best of the vintage in terms of ripeness but delivering a seriously sophisticated expression that is just so moreish. I love it. A perfect wine. - Georgie Hindle (12/2024)

Velvety texture to tannins even at this early stage, showing the purity and finesse of Figeac, coupled with an expansion through the mid palate, a great vintage with damson, smoked plum, bitter cocoa bean, orange peel, lemon zest, black tea and liquorice. Juicy finish with oyster shell salinity, this clearly has decades ahead of it. 100% new oak. Harvest September 1 to 26 September. First year with Premier Grand Cru Classé A on the label, happily coinciding with such an exceptionally friendly vintage. Frederic Faye director. (01/2025)

A towering, statuesque Saint-Émilion, the 2022 Figeac is positively stellar. What a wine. The 2022 was bottled at the end of July 2024, a bit late by current standards, so it is a bit reticent. What impresses most is the wine's total integration and balance. All the elements are in the right places. Time in the glass brings out some of the floral qualities of the Cabernets, but this is a wine readers should not be thinking of opening anytime soon. Power and finesse—it's all there.

An absolute legend of a wine, the 2022 Château Figeac is based on 35% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc, and 31% Cabernet Sauvignon that saw malolactic in barrel and 18 months in new barrels. This deep purple-hued beauty offers incredible cassis, spring flowers, crushed stone, graphite, and subtle tobacco notes to go with a full-bodied, ultra-pure, fine, seamless style on the palate. It's so rare to find a wine that can deliver this level of richness and intensity with no sensation of weight, as well as an incredible sense of finesse and elegance. It reminds me of a slightly more concentrated version of the 2016. Hide bottles for a decade if you can and enjoy over the following 40 years or so. (02/2025)

From the earliest harvest in well over a century of ownership by the Manoncourt family, this is a blend of 35% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 100% new oak for the élevage. The aromatics here are divine, with dark black saline fruits, with a little powdered chalk, as well as gorse flowers and toasted pip. The palate is divine, very broad and complete, filled with saline black cherry, currant, juicy liquorice and black olive, with a base of toast, coffee bean and black pepper, laid over a bed of toasted tannins which follow through into the finish to produce a rich, tannin-infused length. This is an astonishingly strong effort, those tannins so confident but so well-knit, with wonderful harmony and a huge presence from the finessed texture and rich layers of dark fruits. A truly great Figeac which will be stunning ten or twenty years from now (although I can see it aging for well over fifty years and longer). Stunning. The alcohol on the label is 14.5%.

From the earliest harvest in well over a century of ownership by the Manoncourt family, this is a blend of 35% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 100% new oak for the élevage. The aromatics here are divine, with dark black saline fruits, with a little powdered chalk, as well as gorse flowers and toasted pip. The palate is divine, very broad and complete, filled with saline black cherry, currant, juicy liquorice and black olive, with a base of toast, coffee bean and black pepper, laid over a bed of toasted tannins which follow through into the finish to produce a rich, tannin-infused length. This is an astonishingly strong effort, those tannins so confident but so well-knit, with wonderful harmony and a huge presence from the finessed texture and rich layers of dark fruits. A truly great Figeac which will be stunning ten or twenty years from now (although I can see it aging for well over fifty years and longer). Stunning. The alcohol on the label is 14.5%.

From the earliest harvest in well over a century of ownership by the Manoncourt family, this is a blend of 35% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Franc and 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 100% new oak for the élevage. The aromatics here are divine, with dark black saline fruits, with a little powdered chalk, as well as gorse flowers and toasted pip. The palate is divine, very broad and complete, filled with saline black cherry, currant, juicy liquorice and black olive, with a base of toast, coffee bean and black pepper, laid over a bed of toasted tannins which follow through into the finish to produce a rich, tannin-infused length. This is an astonishingly strong effort, those tannins so confident but so well-knit, with wonderful harmony and a huge presence from the finessed texture and rich layers of dark fruits. A truly great Figeac which will be stunning ten or twenty years from now (although I can see it aging for well over fifty years and longer). Stunning. The alcohol on the label is 14.5%.

The 2022 Figeac is one of the wines of the vintage. Unfurling in the glass with a deep and complex bouquet of dark berries and cassis mingled with hints of violet, pencil lead, mint and cigar wrapper, it's medium to full-bodied, dense and concentrated, with striking intensity and sweetness of fruit married with unerring precision and energy, concluding with a long, penetrating finish. Abundant but exquisitely filigreed tannins lend a sense of classicism and proportion to a wine that might otherwise be flamboyant. As I wrote from barrel, it's the quintessential Figeac, testament to the late Thierry Manoncourt's vision to plant such a large proportion of Cabernet, and on drought-resistant rootstocks. Such is the inherent complexity of Figeac's terroirs that harvest took place sub-block by sub-block between September 1st and 25th. Could the result be a contemporary version of the estate's magical 1949?

Deep dark ruby in colour with an opaque core, purple reflections, and subtle brightening on the rim. On the nose, aromas of ripe black plum, dark cherry, underpinned with nuances of cassis and tobacco, a touch of candied tangerine zest, and delicate fine oak. The palate is juicy and elegant with polished tannins, fine acidity, and notes of ripe cherry, and blackcurrant fruit with a citric, saline minerality on the lengthy finish. Definite ageing potential.

A signature Figeac, the Cabernet coming through on the nose and palate. Floral, cassis and graphite notes. Plenty of energy, the fruit juicy and rich but not excessive. Ripe, abundant tannins behind. Long, persistent finish. Just a hint of oak in the background. (JL)