I had to try this wine primarily because I know how much anthony likes the winery, but also because of Parker's 91-93 rating and the fact that he said it is drinking great now. We had it with friends at dinner last night and drank it about three hours after splash decanting. I took no notes. My impressions:

The wine had a huge nose of spice and chocolate. On the palate its copious rich dark fruit flavors balanced the moderate tannins very well. I'm not so sure this wine will improve because the balance is there now. 94

Here's my note from December in a blind tasting:

Lots of blackberry, earth and roasted fruit on the nose. Full-bodied, with very soft tannins and a long, chocolate, berry and vanilla after taste. Yummy. Sexy. Why wait? 90 points

These wines are so yummy already....

Nice notes.

I have a botlle of the '99; should I drink it now of continue to hold?

Thanks!

I haven't tasted any 1999s, but it's supposed to be an early maturing vintage for St. Emilions.

cool

board-o,

glad you liked it.

its wines like these that make a mockery of california pricing.

(repeat from other thread)

Well, if Board-O is drinking young Bordeaux wines, I would say that this proves that some Bordeaux Chateaux are making California styled wines! I think Bordeaux has lost a lot of business to West Coast Cabs, Aussie Cabs & Shiraz...

this wine is a very good replacement for a cali meritage.

James- do you taste these wines immediately after the corks are pulled? If not, are they decanted? If so, for how long? If not decanted how long are they opened before beiong tasted?

We splash decanted this wine and tasted it after three hours. I took a little taste immediately after decanting and I might have rated it about a 90 at that time, but it really opened after three hours.

anthony, what took you so long?

B-O bought some 1/2 bottles to give this stuff a try

We had this wine again this past Saturday night to confirm the previous results. The wine was virtually identical to the previous bottle. If you drink this now, splash decant it and give it at least 3 hours in a decanter.

It's my fist experience with 2003 bordeaux.


Simply, this is a wine version of "Cherry Chocolate Cake " It has a very ripe and sweet nose of cherry,"Marguax" like nuance,a hint of mushrooms,great aroundness in the texture and perfectly well-integrated tannin,too. It's drinking well now. 92pts.

Do any other 2003 St Emilion's measure up to this one. I have actually had a little trouble finding this in my area.

I'm loving the positive feedback on this wine. Still waiting for my case of futures to arrive. It sounds like this is drinking well now, but is it one for long term aging? I'd assume so......

Hard top say. Tannins are fairly soft. I don't expect major improvement with age.

I had a bottle of this last night. Very nice wine. I'm going to have to get more. I'd like to know how long it will last....

Here's my first attempt at writing a TN for public consumption.

Opened but did not decant. Nose was dominated by spice, but also dark berry, some earth, maybe a little licorice. Tannins are well integrated. Very nicely balanced.

Looking back at others' notes, my wife detected cherry at opening, but I couldn't pull that out. Neither one of us brought up chocolate.

How about moccha on the mid palate?

This is an excellent wine, I wish I had bought more. This is also the kind of Bordeaux you wished you found on restaurant wine lists but almost never do -- reasonably priced, from a good vintage, goes well with food, and can be consumed in its youth and thus without the exorbitant restaurant markups for older vintage Bordeaux.

I have enjoyed several bottles of the '03. Very ripe and more Cali like than a typical Bordeaux, typical for this hot vintage. The 14.5% alcohol tips it off. Great wine with steaks.

I have run into a couple of corked bottles, though. Hopefully the rest of my supply is OK. Sorry, for not having my notes handy, but I do like this wine!

Wow, might have to take a peak at this. A customer of mine swears by Fombrauge.

quote:

Originally posted by Berno:
Wow, might have to take a peak at this. A customer of mine swears by Fombrauge.

The 2001 was a great $16 bottle of wine also.

2003 Château Fombrauge - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (8/25/2008)
WIML90,PURPLE90

Tasted August 24, 2008.

Opened and decanted about 30 minutes to an hour before serving. Purple color in the glass. Nose of cocoa, cedar,espresso, potpourri and dark fruits. Flavors of black cherries., berries and white pepper. Medium to high acidity, firm tannins. medium to full body. I'd recommend an extended decant or continue to hold obviously. (90 pts.)

We had this with friends last night. It seemed much softer than a few years ago and not as good. This bottle seemed to be a bit beyond optimal. Based on this bottle, I'd say to drink at your earliest convenience, but I'll open another soon to try and confirm this.

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:
We had this with friends last night. It seemed much softer than a few years ago and not as good. This bottle seemed to be a bit beyond optimal. Based on this bottle, I'd say to drink at your earliest convenience, but I'll open another soon to try and confirm this.

Had one a few month ago and still seemed to be going strong, was as good or better than the 2 or 3 that I had tried previously, but I think someone else had comments similar to yours recently, so good opportunity to pop one. I won't pretend to know how to write a tasting note, but if I do pop one I will at least comment on impressions of quality, structure, balance, comparison to prior bottles, and then I will ask board-o is opening a 2003 bordeaux.

Hmmm...tasting it tonight, still has a pretty nice spicy/floral nose. Black fruit, not as sweet as last few bottles...actually has a nice bitterness. I love tannin, still enjoyably tannic to me, which means that everyone else on here would probably find it to be too tannic to be drinkable...some acidity also. Good moutfeel, maybe a bit of a gap at the very end of the midpalate, but a fairly long, bitter, black-fruited finish, with a few hints of richness/complexity showing up here and there on the finish. Not as rich or fruity as prior bottles, and if it were not for some recent opinions that this might be on its way downhill, I would think this bottle was a bit closed compared to the prior 3. Lets see what tomorrow holds...still have 8 or 9 left I think.

Night 2, more of the same. A little softer overall. Still enought fruit and enough of a tannic/acidic backbone to make me think my bottles are still doing ok. Less expressive than last few bottles, rich roasted meat notes were fewer and more subtle. I did buy a case and a few bottles from another store, so not sure which purchase this bottle came from. Still, it is probably worth popping another in the next few weeks to confirm apparent present state of this.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Machine,

quote:

Originally posted by Board-O:
We had this with friends last night. It seemed much softer than a few years ago and not as good. This bottle seemed to be a bit beyond optimal. Based on this bottle, I'd say to drink at your earliest convenience, but I'll open another soon to try and confirm this.

I had this a few months ago (well, two bottles, the first one being corked). It was a nice bottle, and good "crossover appeal" Bordeaux for those who don't appreciate the more traditionally-styled clarets, but it seemed a little too soft and unstructured. I like Fombrauge, but I think it's in a style that shows better younger than this.