Chateau Figeac 2015

A hold onto your hat wine, the 2015 Château Figeac is pure perfection and one of the wines of this terrific vintage. A blend of 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc, its deep purple color is followed by a huge nose of crème de cassis, black raspberries, smoked earth, and graphite. This is followed by a full-bodied, opulent and incredibly concentrated Saint-Emilion that has everything in the right places, no hard edges, thrilling purity of fruit, and a great, great finish. This is one of those rare gems that carries huge intensity and richness, yet still glides across the palate with no sense of weight or heaviness. Winemaker Frédéric Faye thinks the 2016 is even better but that certainly isn’t stopping me from giving this crazy good wine a triple digit score. Everyone owes it to themselves to try and taste this wine at least once!

• Drinking Window: 2023 - 2063
• Review Date: November 2017

Intense, yet extremely precise nose of red fruit with hints of pomegranate and vanilla. Stunning balance of great ripeness and very fine tannins that give this a wonderfully rich and plush texture at the very long and lingering finish, which gives you so much to think about. Drink or hold. Château Quintus vertical tasting. SP.

• Review Date: May 2022

Dominated by the two Cabernets—Sauvignon and Franc—this is a beautifully structured wine. Firm tannins and ripe black currants give a perfumed character that is ripe, dense and impressive. The wine has enormous potential, with great tannins and fruit. Drink from 2027.

• Reviewer Name: Roger Voss
• Review Date: April 2018

The recent leaps and bounds in improvements that have occurred at this great estate, equating to a dramatic increase in intensity and complexity—without compromising the husky, soft-spoken, sultry voice that is Figeac—is a monumental achievement. Kudos to Frederic Faye and his team for so beautifully expressing what was clearly an extraordinary vintage at Chateau Figeac! Blended of 29% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon and 28% Cabernet Franc, the deep garnet-purple colored 2015 Figeac reveals vibrant black cherries, cassis, red currants, black plums and licorice notes with touches of cigar boxes, bouquet garni, potpourri, damp soil and black pepper. Medium-bodied, delicately crafted and with nuanced, quietly intense layers of vivacious red and black fruits, the palate features a solid frame of polished, rounded tannins and seamless freshness, finishing long and minerally.

• Drinking Window: 2022 - 2047
• Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
• Review Date: February 2018

Tasted blind. Deep crimson. Luscious, juicy nose. Fresh and racy and saline. Lots of interest and complexity here. Dry but very long finish. Precise within a very ripe framework. Nothing overdone even if not sweet. Exciting! Cheval Blanc?

• Drinking Window: 2023 - 2045
• Review Date: May 2022

A blend of 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, and 28% Cabernet Franc, the 2015 Figeac is deep garnet-purple colored. It sashays out with gregarious notes of plum preserves, blackcurrant cordial, and Indian spices, followed by hints of redcurrants, camphor, and dark chocolate with a waft of violets. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is rich and seductive with superbly ripe, fine-grained tannins and well-knit freshness, finishing long and perfumed. Irresistible to drink right now (with a good decant), it will easily give another 25-years+ of pleasure.

• Drinking Window: 2022 - 2050
• Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
• Review Date: May 2022

The 2015 Figeac is a step up from the 2014 with exquisite scents of red berry fruit, incense, rose petal and crush stone. Pixelated with wonderful precision. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, wonderful backbone allied with a sense of symmetry. It is more saline than previous vintages, with saliva flowing after the wine has exited. One of the standouts from the Right Bank in this vintage. Tasted at the château.

• Drinking Window: 2025 - 2055
• Reviewer Name: Neal Martin
• Review Date: December 2021

This Figeac expresses the solar character of the vintage while retaining enticing freshness. The bouquet is dense and complex with spicy, woody and graphite-like notes mingling with ripe wild berry fruit. The palate also combines a fleshy core with welcome freshness, but also presents a more imposing tannic framework than the ones presented above, and so this is a more monolithic wine that will certainly benefit from cellaring for ten years or more.

• Drinking Window: 2024 - 2040
• Reviewer Name: Yohan Castaing
• Review Date: September 2021

One of the real standouts of the vintage, the 2015 Figeac soars out of the glass with stunning aromatic presence and beautifully layered fruit. Powerful and yet also light on its feet, it is wonderfully complex from start to finish. Plum, mocha, spice, new leather and menthol gradually open up, but the 2015 is most remarkable for its sensual perfume and exceptional overall balance. This is the first vintage the winemaking team followed a new protocol designed to maintain purity of fruit and aromas by reducing contact with oxygen during the first year of aging. The 2015 Figeac is magnificent.

• Drinking Window: 2025 - 2055
• Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni
• Review Date: February 2018