Château

Château Fombrauge

shah-TOH fohn-BROHZH
How to read this

Capitals mark the stressed syllable. “zh” is the s in “measure”. “ohn” is a nasal vowel: say it through the nose, with no n. The French r comes from the back of the throat. The recording is the reference.

A Saint-Émilion of nearly 60 hectares, with a history back to the 15th century, left out of every list until 2012 and in the hands of Bernard Magrez since 1999.

Classification
Grand Cru Classé (2022)

The château

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
Soil
Clay and limestone and Fronsac molasse Terroir of Saint-Émilion →
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

Institutions
Association des Grands Crus Classés de Saint-Émilion, Château Fombrauge; Conseil des Vins de Saint-Émilion: Château Fombrauge, the classification of 2022, press kit

Revised September 23, 2026. How I choose sources

The record

Château Fombrauge is a Grand Cru Classé (2022), in the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru appellation.

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru is an appellation, not a rank. A wine may carry it and hold no place at all in the Saint-Émilion classification.

Source: INAO, Saint-Émilion grand cru

Private

By invitation only.

On from here

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