Colin Hay om:
Chateau Figeac 1er Grand Cru Classe A
(Saint-Émilion; 38% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon; a final yield of 25 hl/ha; pH 3.64; 13% ABV; 90% grand vin, with very little lost on the sorting table; tasted at the property with Blandine de Brier Manoncourt). There was just a little green harvesting to reduce the size of the crop to allow perfect maturation of the fruit. This is profound, deep, lifted, dense, compact, rich and, above all, cool at the beautifully formed spherical core. Black cherry, blueberry and a little cassis and blackberry. I love the leather, cedar and graphite, all remarkably present already at this nascent stage. Lily of the valley. Iris. Blood orange. Walnut shell (from the pips, the ripest ever achieved here despite the early picking dates). There's just a little black pepper and a lovely natural mineral salinity. This takes a beautiful shape in the mouth, not especially ample, but what is not there in amplitude is more than compensated for in depth. This is incredibly layered, but unlike the other grands vins of the appellation, the layers are not of cashmere or velvet but rather of silk, interspersed by the penetration of the ultra-fined and refined tannins. It's like a cascade of layers, descending like a flowing staircase into the dark core below. Figeac is staggeringly beautiful for a wine so considerable in its structure. This is, for me, the most accessible truly great vintage of Figeac. The conveyance of the flavours from the grapes themselves into the final wine is very direct. If there are comparisons to be drawn, they are with the 2016 and perhaps the 2010 at this stage.
