2019 Peby Faugeres

In the same ballpark as the 2016, 2018, and 2020, the 2019 Château Péby Faugères is another full-bodied, deep, richer Saint-Emilion that has incredible purity, voluptuous, layered aromas and flavors of black raspberries, cherries, leather, and truffly earth, perfectly integrated oak, and a remarkable sense of limestone-like minerality on the finish. The balance, as well as its richness paired with elegance, is something to behold. Drink this sensational, sexy, straight-up heavenly Saint-Emilion over the coming two decades.

The 2019 Péby Faugères bursts with aromas of vanilla pod, minty berry fruit, dark chocolate and creamy new wood. Full-bodied, polished and seamless, it's more refined than Le Merle (Péby Faugères is a 100% Merlot cuvée produced from the Faugères's best parcel), though with similar generously extracted tannins and livelier acids, concluding with a lavishly oak-inflected finish. It's a success in its genre, but Péby Faugères remains firmly stuck in the aesthetic of the early 2000s while the rest of the wine world moves on around it.

The 2019 Péby-Faugères has a powerful bouquet, but as I mentioned a few months ago, there is delineation and fine focus here. Lavish and generous. The palate is medium-bodied with ripe tannins and layers of heady black fruit matched by a keen line of acidity. Very concentrated (yields were 21hL/ha). This is not a shy Saint-Émilion, but it conveys a sense of class.