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Wine Review: 2005 Chateau Fontbernard

chris wrote this on February 28, 2009

2005 Chateau Fontbernard

Red Bordeaux Blend
Bordeaux, Montagne-St. Émilion
$18 @ Total Wine

My plan this week is to compare a Bordeaux wine from a similar area and price range to the 2003 Chateau Puy-Guilhem I reviewed last week. I could not find a 2003 but I had a 2005 that fits the bill from Total Wine that I was curious to try. The 2003 was from the Fronsac AOC while this 2005 is from the Montagne-St. Emilion AOC, a satellite region of the well known St. Emilion AOC. Ilike Fronsac, it also produces good value wines, though the quality of Fronsac is considered to be superior to Montagne-St. Emilion. Please refer back to the 2003 Chateau Puy-Guilhem review for a comparison of these two wines.

I could not find the exact blend used for this wine. Montagne-St. Emilion is a “right bank” appellation of Bordeaux, where the wines are blends of Merlot (60%+) with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon comprising the balance.

As for the vintage, 2005 is considered one of the best vintages in Bordeaux history, and the very best of this decade (which is why I was very excited to pop this bottle). As a disclaimer, a “great” vintage year means that the grapes grew and developed to ripeness under ideal climate conditions and is not a direct indication that the wines will be top quality. The winemaker must then take these perfect grapes and mold them into a great wine.

One oddity I found on the label was the alcohol content. At 14%, this is one percent higher than normal for Bordeaux, especially for grapes from this vintage. Higher alcohol is a result of the grapes developing a higher sugar content, usually seen in wines from hotter climates and vintages (like the 2003 Bordeaux vintage, or California and Australia). But its all about balance in wines, the acidity, alcohol, and tannins being in perfect harmony so I am not ready to write off this wine based on the alcohol alone. Lets see what the winemaker has done with his riper grapes first…

I popped and decanted this wine for about 30 minutes before trying it. Young Bordeaux is known to be “tight” and tannic; the aeration from decanting “softening” the wine and making it easier to drink. Once in the glass, I almost thought I had mistakenly poured the wrong wine. I immediately got bold blackberry and black cherry aromas on the nose, reminding me of an Aussie Shiraz or Cali Zin more so than Bordeaux (speaking generally, typical Bordeaux shows “restrained” red currant, black currant, and cedar). Hints of blueberry can also be found, along with notes of bitter chocolate and earthiness. Definite alcohol zing on the back of the nasal passages.

The wine is very weak on the “mid palate”, the area around middle and sides of the tongue where you sense fruit and acidity. Again, Bordeaux wines are known to be fuller bodied and this wine is definitely not. With all the nice blackberry fruit on the nose I was hoping for more. There are hits of some blackberry liqueur on the finish, right before the spicy tannins and sharp alcohol overwhelm any other flavors to be found. It has decent length on the finish but with a somewhat bitter, ashy quality. Very disappointing.

On wine style and quality I rate this a C-. This wine is a thin, weak effort; disjointed and unbalanced. Too tannic, too alcoholic, not Bordeaux like at all. It made me think what would happen if I had never had a Bordeaux wine before and this was my first introduction to the region, wanting to know what all the fuss is about Bordeaux. Well I would probably never buy a Bordeaux wine ever again.

As for value, I rate this wine a B-. $18 for a bottle of Bordeaux from 2005 isn’t unreasonable but this wine does not deliver $18 dollars of quality. There are better Bordeaux values out there and if you want this new world style of wine try any Zin from Amador County or any Shiraz from SE Australia for $13 and save some money for wines of better quality.

Overall Rating: C

Until the next wine!- Chris

Topics: reviews | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Wine Review: 2005 Chateau Fontbernard”

  1. Luke Says:
    February 28th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    Love the detailed article, but I think you were a bit hard on this St. Emilion. I think it needs more time in bottle. 30 minute decant is not long at all. I figure this wine needs at least 3 years, so a 3hr decant would burn off some of the alcohol and acid. Im not touching my 05 Right Bankers for a few years. You are right though, not good to drink NOW.

  2. mlong Says:
    February 28th, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    Good review. I like that you NEVER assume that the reading understands some of the tradition wine terms.
    e.g.
    The wine is very weak on the “mid palate”, the area around middle and sides of the tongue where you sense fruit and acidity. Again, Bordeaux wines are known to be fuller bodied and this wine is definitely not.

    Good stuff.

    What about a “bordeaux basics” series. Take the top 5 most important aspects to know about bordeaux and pair each post w/ a bottle you think represents those aspects the most. Or, after the series is over suggest a bottle for folks to purchase and then have everyone comment. A wine tasting of sorts.
    cheers..

  3. Chris Says:
    March 4th, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    Luke- I agree that many 05’s are young. If this were a classified growth (cru) from a major AOC I would never have popped it this early. However an $18 bottle from a satellite region is not meant for long term cellaring and this is no exception. Next time you are up this way we will find this bottle and re-evaluate!

    mlong- great idea!

    Chris

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