Château Fonplégade

The château

Jean-Pierre Beylot bought the land and built the house in 1852, and in the 1860s the estate passed to the duc de Morny, the half brother of Napoleon III. Charles Cocks and Édouard Féret, whose Bordeaux et ses vins was the reference book of the Bordeaux trade, printed it among the first growths of Saint-Émilion from 1868, under the comtesse de Gallard, at 20 to 30 tonneaux (the old Bordeaux measure of a crop, 900 liters, or 4 barrels), and kept it there in every edition down to 1922. Their guide of 1874 fixed the site: a hollow halfway up the southern slope, sheltered from the north and the west.

The Moueix family bought Fonplégade in 1953. In 2004 it went to 2 Americans, Stephen and Denise Adams, who rebuilt both the house and the winery; Stephen Adams died in 2024 and Denise Adams holds the estate. Through all of it the rank has not moved: Fonplégade has been a Grand Cru Classé in every Saint-Émilion classification, in 1955, 1969, 1986, 1996, 2006, 2012 and in the list of September 2022.

The vineyard is 18 and a half hectares on a steep slope southwest of the town, below what was Château Magdelaine, facing south and shaped like an amphitheater that keeps out the north wind: limestone above, clay below. It is worked as 27 separate parcels, at 6,500 vines a hectare on the flat and 8,500 on the hillside, planted overwhelmingly to Merlot with Cabernet Franc; the vines are 30 years old on average and the oldest over 75. The Adamses changed the farming from their first year. Chemical treatments stopped in 2004, the vineyard was fully organic by 2007 and certified by Ecocert in 2013, and after joining Biodyvin in 2017 it was certified biodynamic in 2020. Stéphane Derenoncourt has consulted since 2015, with Corinne Comme on the biodynamics. The wine is raised in French oak, in concrete eggs and in amphorae, and Fleur de Fonplégade is the second wine.

At a glance

Appellation

Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

Commune

Saint-Émilion, on the slope southwest of the town

Classification

Grand Cru Classé in every list, 1955 to 2022

Owner

Denise Adams; bought with Stephen Adams in 2004

Consultants

Stéphane Derenoncourt, since 2015; Corinne Comme on the biodynamics

Vineyard

18 and a half hectares in 27 parcels; 6,500 vines a hectare on the flat, 8,500 on the hillside; vines 30 years old on average, the oldest over 75

Soil

Limestone above, clay below, on a south-facing amphitheater of slope Terroir of Saint-Émilion →

Grapes

Overwhelmingly Merlot, with Cabernet Franc

Farming

No chemicals from 2004; organic from 2007, certified in 2013; Biodyvin from 2017; certified biodynamic in 2020

Cellar

French oak, concrete eggs and amphorae

Wines

Château Fonplégade; Fleur de Fonplégade

The house

Built in 1852; later owned by the duc de Morny

In history

A first growth of Saint-Émilion in the guides from 1868 to 1922, at 20 to 30 tonneaux