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Château Fourcas Dupré

056 - Copy

Address: 33480 Listrac-Medoc

Telephone: +33 (0)5 56 58 01 07

E-mail: chateau-fourcas-dupre@wanadoo.fr

Website: www.fourcasdupre.com

Château Fourcas Dupré is a flavoursome Listrac of good quality that represents value for money. In its youth it is a positive, sappy wine with agreeable bite and nicely integrated oak. It ages well in the medium term into something quite complex and sturdy. On balance I find it more charming than Fourcas-Hosten, which has more polish and ambition but which is sometimes sterner stuff. The 2010, 2009 and 2005 are good, sturdy wines with plenty of material and grip. Second wine here is Chateau Bellevue Laffont. Patrice Pages is the director.

Vineyards/Terroir: 46 hectares on Pyrenean gravel with a clay-hardpan subsoil planted with equal quantities of Cabernet and Merlot [44%], 10% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.

Winemaking/Elévage: Twelve months in oak, one third of which are renewed each year.

Tasting notes:

  • 2015 Mid depth; dark core; purple at edge; slightly more elegantly styled; mineral and black cherry; spice; full entry; plenty of up-front fruit and spice; dips a fraction on the mid palate; should fill out further during ageing. [51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot, 13.5%, 33% new oak pH 3.69, TA 3.4]. Drink 2021-2028. 86-88+
  • 2014 Deep and saturated colour; healthy looking; attractive; spicy plums and blackcurrants with touch of pain grillé notes; blackcurrant fruit on the palate; mid-weight; composed and elegant. Nice acidity. Works well.[50% Merlot, 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Petit Verdot]. Tasted 31 March ’15 at UGC. Drink 2019-2027. 88-90+
  • 2013 Mid depth; vibrant purple at edge; attractive sweet spicy nose; perfumed; nice entry on the palate that shows elegance and softness; nicely judged. Not too sappy. [48% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit verdot 32hl/ha 33% new oak each year]. Tasted 3/4/14 UGCB. Drink 2018-2025. 85-87
  • 2012 Mid depth; fresh and more spicy and lifted than Fonréaud; red fruits and blackcurrant tones; plums and blackcurrants with a spicy overlay on the palate; nice; round and harmonious wine. Drink 2015-2025. 87 UGC Oct ’14 [Earlier note] Dark centre; vibrant at edge; some perfume, prettiness on the nose; some cherry; depth not unattractive; good entry, ripe fruit, chewy but good nevertheless. Lots of guts. Chewy finish but will work. 86-88 UGC Tuesday April 9 2013
  • 2011 Mid depth; fresh aromas of stalky blackcurrants; similar tones on the palate – cool blackcurrant flavours with spices and acid. Has settled and will improve further. Drink 2015-2026. 86+ Tasted Oct ’13 UGCB London [Earlier note] Deep and dense; earthy purple at edge; blackcurrants and cassis; quite attractive – almost Pauillac like; fresh and nice purity here; palate good and dense with blackcurrants, tannin and acid; some pucker here. Tannic palate, that’s Listrac. Should settle. Tasted UGC. 85-87 UGC April 2012
  • 2010 Mid depth; meaty, spicy nose; some red fruits; attractive; stalky Cabernet flavours on the palate with freshness; grip here as you’d expect. Pretty sappy effort with lots of grip but plenty of chewy fruit here. This will work out nicely. Needs two to three years. 87/100 UGC Nov ’12 [Earlier Primeurs note] 2010 Deep and saturated; real ripeness here; fruit, some luxuriance, ripe; good guts and some tannin and grip but concentrated. Will knit together. Some spice and herbs on the finish. Very good 87-88/100 Tasted 5 April 2011 at UGC. [Second tasting] Dense and saturated; legs; ripe and rich, cassis and blackcurrant; rich seam of blackcurrant here and quite fresh and cool; some density, tannin and acid but enough chewy fruit. A bit like 2005. 86-88+/100 Tasted 7 April 2011 at UGC
  • 2009 Dense and black; thick and deep; some tar and liquorice; thick and ripe blackcurrant; saturated plate in fruit and flavour; big and bold; chewy tannins have settled since primeur tastings. Very good chewy and thick Listrac. 89/100 UGC Oct ’11 [Earlier Primeurs note] 2009 Dark, healthy red at edge’ some chalkiness but with great intensity [less open than the Fourcas-Hosten below]; ripe palate tannic but with lots of fruit to back it up. Fruit here – raspberry and blackcurrant, tannin too. 88/100
  • 2008 Mid red; good depth; some strawberry with a little tobacco at the edge; some savour  but the Fourcas Hosten is more showy. Quite tannic palate; with leafy blackcurrants but  dry. May come round but tannins feel very dry and present currently. 84/100
  • 2005 Mid red, youthful at rim, depth; attractive nose of blackcurrants, cassis with some plum, ripe, also some earth and oak too alongside tobacco and a whiff of undergrowth; palate very supple and well balanced; density here, some minerals and more blackcurrants; tannins very fine; good grip and extract overall with fine length. Balanced and already drinkable but will improve over next 2-3 years and last for 10 plus. 88+/100 June ‘10
  • 2000 Dense black red, some development at edge, earthy. Some cassis but pent up and intense. Later opened out with a more roasted character, but a promising wine with personality and bite. Needs a few years to open up. 86+/100 Sept 09. [Earlier note] Dark core, some red purple at edge, initially lovely smoky, raspberry rose petal nose reminiscent of Charmail and fine Bordeaux. Palate quite taut and lean but with real concentration and some fat here. Good. 87/100 Jan 08.
  • 1996 Mid red, some mahogany tints; still darkish at core with a roasted/earthy note; quite stylish with depth. Attractive sturdy palate; beefy and twist of acid and tannin at the end. After an hour in the decanter more blackcurrants came out on palate. Full mature – with none of the dusty tannins of some of the mid 1990s cru bourgeois. This is a wine that does develop well in bottle. Good value too – I picked this up from a French supermarket in the late 1990s for 40 francs a bottle [about £4 then].  87/100 Aug 06

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