Saint-Émilion · vintage 2017
Why this vintage
- The 2017 vintage in Saint-ÉmilionFrost struck the slope-foot vines: the plateaus saved the day, and the vintage must be judged plot by plot.
- Limited production60 000 bottles of this vintage.
The 2017 vintage in Saint-Émilion
Vintage benchmark: 87/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)
Vintage character: Frost struck the slope-foot vines: the plateaus saved the day, and the vintage must be judged plot by plot.
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
Beautiful purple colour.
The nose is deep. At this stage it develops aromas of blackberry, black cherry and gingerbread.
The palate is ample and harmonious, classic in style. The texture, silky at first, becomes more velvety with aeration. Black fruits are joined by violet and verbena. The long finish asserts the mineral character of the wine.
Its potential is great and will assert itself during ageing. Density and length are absolutely surprising for the vintage.
The vintage
The 2016-2017 winter was very short of water (30% below normal). The first half of the season was cold, then winter ended with very mild temperatures. Budburst was early and the very beginning of spring kept this mildness, which activated growth. On the nights of 27 and 28 April, the temperature fell to -6°C in some areas, causing severe frost. 42% of the Château Fonroque plots were badly damaged by this unfortunate weather event. After these "dark" nights for many wine estates of the region, heat and drought set in until the end of spring, creating water stress in the vineyard. From 25 June, heavy rains marked a change in the weather. The summer was dry and rather cool. Veraison was early and fast. The rains of early September were welcome and allowed the skins to reach full maturity. Harvest from 18 to 23 September.
Blend of the 2017 vintage
- 93 % Merlot
- 7 % Cabernet franc
Shares for this vintage, as recorded on the 2017 technical sheet. The vineyard itself is planted with 87 % merlot, 13 % cabernet franc — a vintage blend departs from the area under vine as the year dictates.
Figures from the 2017 sheet
- 35 hl/haYield
- 60,000 bottlesProduction
Winemaking
In thermoregulated concrete vats.
Ageing
16 months: 30% in new barrels, 70% in barrels of one wine or more.
Terroir
Limestone plateau and limestone-clay hillside.
An offer on Château Fonroque 2017
Availability, allocations and terms: the Compagnie Médocaine will reply promptly. The estate and vintage are already filled in in the message.
Texts and documents 2017
The texts below copy in one click for your product sheets, catalogues and social channels. The printable sheet condenses the whole page onto a single A4 page.
Visuals
For this vintage, the media library contains: packshots. High-definition packshots, labels, back labels and lifestyle photos are reserved for clients and partners, on the Compagnie Médocaine’s VinCod media library.