{"id":1980,"date":"2021-11-29T14:38:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T14:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1980"},"modified":"2021-11-29T16:30:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-29T16:30:18","slug":"chateau-fonplegade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1980","title":{"rendered":"Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we have written previously, wine tasting in Bordeaux<\/a> seems more than a little formal and stuffy for those of us used to visiting wineries in the U.S.\u00a0 In that region of Wine Country, Saint-\u00c9milion offers visitors the most relaxed experience.\u00a0 The town itself is lively and welcoming and there are many wineries to visit without an appointment.\u00a0 Nonetheless, if you want to try the wines of the top ch\u00e2teaux, you\u2019ll need an appointment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy of Wine.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

One we have enjoyed is Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade (www.fonplegade.com<\/a>).\u00a0 Its wines are grand cru class\u00e9.\u00a0 <\/em>That class\u00e9<\/em> is important. \u00a0Any Saint-\u00c9milion vineyard can call itself grand cru<\/em>, but the class\u00e9<\/em> must be awarded by the local wine authorities.\u00a0 [The top top wines of Saint-\u00c9milion are called premier grand cru class\u00e9<\/em>.]\u00a0 Of course, for a visitor, the only important thing is to taste good wine, and we have had that experience at Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, it is owned and operated by American wine makers, Denise and Stephen Adams.\u00a0 They also make ADAMVS, on Napa Valley\u2019s Howell Mountain.\u00a0 It seems that Denise is the one most actively involved at Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade.\u00a0 The couple haven\u2019t Napafied Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade but they have raised the quality of the wine enough to obtain the cherished class\u00e9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unlike what we generally find in California, the French vineyard makes only two wines: the namesake Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade and a lesser second label, Fleur de Fonpl\u00e9gade.\u00a0 (The couple also own the Ch\u00e2teau l\u2019Enclos in Pomerol.)\u00a0 And of course being from Saint-\u00c9milion, the wines are a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc.\u00a0 Another aspect that distinguishes Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade is that their wines are made biodynamically<\/a>, a trend becoming quite common in France (and in California too, for that matter.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The cellars at Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of The Wine Cellar Insider.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bordeaux rules require that all the grapes of any vineyard must come from the contiguous estate surrounding the ch\u00e2teau. Therefore, the ch\u00e2teau itself is surrounded by vines, which seem to extend forever.\u00a0 Some ch\u00e2teaux may be no more that humble farmhouses, but in Fonpl\u00e9gade\u2019s case the building is an elegant 19th<\/sup> century structure, intended to project the wealth and taste of its owners.\u00a0 That has always been the case, but the previous owners had let it run down a bit.\u00a0 The Adams\u2019 invested in upgrading not only the ch\u00e2teau wine making facilities and the cellars.<\/p>\n

Also under the previous regime, Fonpl\u00e9gade welcomed tour groups. \u00a0That is no longer the case.\u00a0 You must have an appointment and the visits are, in the winery\u2019s term, intimate.\u00a0 That shouldn\u2019t scare away American visitors.\u00a0 We have met Denise Adams and she is a very easy-to-talk-to person.\u00a0 The team at Fonpl\u00e9gade takes on that personality.<\/p>\n

As to the word: Fonpl\u00e9gade means \u201cfountain of plenty\u201d.\u00a0 There is a 13th<\/sup> century fountain on the property that inspired the name.\u00a0 It is still in use to moisten the vineyard in dry years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we have written previously, wine tasting in Bordeaux seems more than a little formal and stuffy for those of us used to visiting wineries in the U.S.\u00a0 In that region of Wine Country, Saint-\u00c9milion offers visitors the most relaxed experience.\u00a0 The town itself is lively and welcoming and there are many wineries to visit … Continue reading Ch\u00e2teau Fonpl\u00e9gade<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1980"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1997,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions\/1997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}