Château Figeac 2010

The 2010 vintage in Saint-Émilion

Vintage benchmark: 98/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: The dry summer and cool nights gave dense, tannic wines of extraordinary ageing potential — the exact opposite of 2009.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Saint-Émilion. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

A harmonious, elegant wine, well balanced from its youth, with an ageing potential among the greatest of the great Bordeaux wines. Figeac reveals its complexity over time, offers a rich palette of sensations and always stirs great emotion.

The vintage

Heavy rainfall at the end of 2009 topped up the water tables before a period of very dry and cold weather set in during the winter of 2010. Bud-break occurred in the vineyards at the beginning of April, as it did in the 2009 vintage. Cool weather made shooting slow but homogeneous. Flowering began on May 24 for the Merlot and the Cabernet Sauvignon, and May 29 for the Cabernet Franc. Adverse weather conditions in June meant careful vine monitoring was required, while fruit-setting was slow to reach completeness. Then fine weather with very low rainfall set in, helping the berries to develop more concentration. In July and August, diurnal temperatures varied by as much as 15 degrees, bringing about excellent polyphenol synthesis. Veraison set in quite quickly, while the stop in vine growth coincided perfectly with it.

Hand-harvested, with an optical sorting line used in 2010 to perfect the elimination of imperfect berries: Merlot from September 27 to October 1st, Cabernet Franc from October 7 to 18, Cabernet Sauvignon from October 5 to 18.

Vinification: the main extraction was done at the beginning of the fermentation. The pigeages (punching down of the cap) were adapted to the individual character of each plot. The typical Figeac technique of macerating with the cap of skins plunged below the surface of the wine in wooden vats led to a natural infusion and a lovely softening of the tannins. The malolactic fermentations finished before Christmas.

Blend of the 2010 vintage

Figures from the 2010 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 40 hl/haYield
• 45 yrsVine age
• 100,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

From the mid-1940s, Figeac adopted the Swiss technique of triggering malolactic fermentation immediately after alcoholic fermentation.

Ageing

Figeac has 2 barrel cellars, with 100% new barrels since the mid-1960s.

Terroir

Figeac is the largest estate in Saint-Emilion, covering 54 hectares. Alongside its 40 hectares of vines, the variety of its landscape contributes to what is now called a natural balance, or "biodiversity". Figeac has large open spaces that add to the majesty of the place and allow wildlife and flora to thrive. Figeac has received a true gift from nature: an enviable Bordeaux climate, an exceptional relief made up of 3 fine gravel mounds, and a soil reputed to hold the largest gravels of the area. This magnificent terroir is the basis for the estate's ranking among the Premiers Grands Crus of Saint-Emilion.