2019 Château Faugères

The 2019 Château Faugères is also ripe and upfront, yet it's slightly cooler in style compared to the sunny, exuberant 2018. Blackberries, black cherries, tobacco, chocolate oak, and lots of minerality define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a round, layered mouthfeel, beautiful mid-palate density, and a great finish. It has another 10-15 years of prime drinking. I'd be thrilled with a case in the cellar.

The 2019 Faugères is a full-bodied, brutally extracted wine that exhibits a somewhat lactic nose of rich black fruits, berry liqueur and new oak. Mouthpuckeringly tannic, it lacks charm or generosity despite its heady levels of ripeness.

As I wrote a couple of years back, the 2019 Faugères is ripe and opulent on the nose, lacking the delineation of the best Saint-Émilion wines, hedonistic but needing more complexity. The palate is better, with sappy red berry fruit and touches of white pepper and clove. If the nose can improve, then this will match the palate and be a fine 2019.