Château Fombrauge

The estate

The name comes from fons brogier, a spring in the heather. Jacques de Canolle was lord of Fombrauge in the 15th century, and Pierre de Canolle planted the first vines in 1575; a sundial of 1679 still marks the time in the courtyard. Ferdinand de Taffard bought the estate in 1808. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, ranked it among the second growths of their own Saint-Émilion ranking for more than 50 years, and the entries read like a family chronicle: de Taffard Saint-Germain at 50 to 70 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels) in 1868, a Canolle by 1883, Mme Azevedo by 1897, the baron de Romeuf at 80 tonneaux in 1908. The vineyard was rebuilt in 1910 and 1911 by the man who had made Pavie-Macquin, and by 1922 the guide had moved Fombrauge up to its first growths.

Alain Bygodt and his son Charles bought it in 1936 and modernized the cellars; the Danish company Hans Just held it from 1987, and Bernard Magrez bought it in 1999. For all the attention of the old guides, Fombrauge was in no official Saint-Émilion classification before 2012, when it was promoted to Grand Cru Classé; the list of September 2022 confirmed it.

The vineyard runs to nearly 60 hectares at Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, in 2 blocks of clay and limestone and Fronsac molasse rising to about 75 meters, planted at 6,600 vines a hectare, overwhelmingly to Merlot with Cabernet Franc. The cellar holds vats of wood, stainless steel and cement. Beside the first wine there is Magrez Fombrauge, begun with the 2000 vintage: 3 and a half hectares of vines 60 to 70 years old, fermented and raised in new French oak and in terracotta jars of 200 to 450 liters. Prélude de Fombrauge is the second wine, and a white has been labeled Château Magrez Fombrauge Blanc since 2011. Since 2010 the bottles have carried etching and invisible ink against counterfeiting. The 2019, which I tasted in September 2026, was Saint-Émilion caught in full bloom: a great vintage worn lightly, all fruit and sunshine.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes

Classification

Grand Cru Classé, 2012 and 2022; in no list before 2012

Owner

Bernard Magrez, since 1999

Vineyard

Nearly 60 hectares in 2 blocks, rising to about 75 meters; 6,600 vines a hectare

Ground

Clay and limestone and Fronsac molasse

Grapes

Overwhelmingly Merlot, with Cabernet Franc

Cellar

Vats of wood, stainless steel and cement

Wines

Château Fombrauge; Prélude de Fombrauge; Magrez Fombrauge, since the 2000 vintage; Château Magrez Fombrauge Blanc, since 2011

The courtyard

A sundial of 1679

In history

A second growth of the guides from 1868, 50 to 80 tonneaux; among their first growths by 1922

Sources: Association des Grands Crus Classés de Saint-Émilion, Château Fombrauge · Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion, Château Fombrauge · Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion, the classification of 2022, press kit · Guto Assumpção on Instagram, a tasting of 7 wines, September 18, 2026