Château Figeac 2022

The 2022 vintage in Saint-Émilion

Vintage benchmark: 97/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: The extreme drought was absorbed by the clays: a sun-driven concentration, but without the expected harshness.

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

The robe is dense, with a beautiful purple colour reinforced by purple reflections. The wine is bright and luminous. Expressive, complex and deep, the nose seduces with its fresh and rising notes. Subtle floral aromas are supported by delicate touches of spices, indicative of great Cabernet Franc. The character of the Cabernet Sauvignon offers aromas of blackcurrant berries combined with a fresh impression of peppermint. The quality of the Merlots is soberly expressed by an elegant bouquet of red fruits, including raspberry. Beyond these aromas, notes of minerality, signature of the Figeac gravel.

The attack immediately gives a sensation of velvetiness thanks to the presence of round and generous Merlot. The mouth is vibrant and dynamic throughout the tasting. A caressing sweetness, supported by the fleshiness of the Cabernet Sauvignon, enveloping the tannins of the Cabernet Franc, melts on the palate. These fine, harmoniously integrated tannins reinforce the sensation of perfect balance. The Cabernet Franc expresses itself on the finish with a very delicate spicy dimension. The tasting ends on a fresh, long and minty touch.

The vintage

For the first vintage of Figeac 1er Grand Cru Classé "A", the main objective of the year was to preserve the freshness of the soil and the fruit. The blue clay subsoil preserves moisture deep underground, islands of coolness spread over 13 hectares (woods, hedges, ponds, streams) act as a climatic buffer, and the vineyard planting is largely dominated by Cabernets. Inter-row plant cover, work at dawn, minimal soil work, no leaf removal and limited topping aim to limit the evapotranspiration of the vine and the evaporation of water from the soil.

From May, temperatures set records; vine growth was vigorous until flowering, then véraison was early and ripening slow and continuous. Cool nights and scant rainfall in June and August allowed the vines to keep a regular metabolism under hydric constraint, without stress or blockage. From the beginning of August, the pips were already browning.

Harvest began on September 1st, the earliest in the estate's history, and ended on September 26th. The second vintage to be vinified in the new cellars.

Blend of the 2022 vintage

Figures from the 2022 sheet

• 14 % vol.Alcohol

Winemaking

Sulphur-free vinification. A unique vinification programme for each vat, low fermentation temperatures, no punching down: maceration by infusion. Special attention given to the choice of barrels for malolactic fermentation and ageing.

Ageing

100% new French oak barrels

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.