2011 Château Magrez-Fombrauge
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Tasting notes
Black with a tarry core. Intense, spicy pure black fruit with a spicy oak overlay. Big, thick and extracted on the palate. Rather overdone so that it tastes extracted and hard on the finish. (JH)
Critic scores
James Suckling
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Watery white. A little woody (not oaky) on the nose, slightly reductive and stinky. Taut and pretty crisp. Shortish and a bit tart overall. (JH)
A flowery nose of ripe plums, blueberries, truffles and roasted meats jumps from the glass of this inky/purple-colored 2011. Made from a blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc, it reveals super-richness, velvety tannin, a skyscraper-like mid-palate, and not a hard edge to be found. It is another remarkable effort in this challenging vintage. Its 14.5% natural alcohol is incredible given the growing conditions. This gorgeous boutique St.-Emilion, one of the stars of the vintage, will evolve effortlessly for 15-20 years. By the way, I recently had the 2000 Magrez-Fombrauge (which I believe is the first vintage), and at age 14 it was outstanding.
Looks more developed at the rim than the Fombrauge. Sweet, thick, black cherry aromas. Rather painful exaggeration of acidity on the finish. Very dense. Full marks for trying but I prefer the Fombrauge. (JR)