1999 Château Peby-Faugeres

Château Peby Faugeres is a 20-acre Grand Cru estate in the St.-Emilion appellation. Though the estate has a long history, it didn’t start bottling and marketing its own wine until 1998 when owner Pierre-Bernard Guisez hired consulting winemaker Michel Rolland to improve quality. Since then reviewers have been highly complimentary of this 100% Merlot wine. Robert M. Parker Jr. notes that “since its debut vintage, Peby Faugeres has fashioned prodigious wines from its tiny hillside vineyard…” In 2005 the estate was bought by businessman Silvio Danz, owner of Lalique art glass company, several international wine merchant firms, and a number of wineries in Bordeaux, Tuscany and Catalonia. There is no second wine. About 20,000 bottles are produced annually.

Saint-Émilion is on the east side of the Dordogne River. At 13,400 acres it is one of Bordeaux’s largest appellations, and perhaps its most picturesque. It is also home to what has been called “the garagiste” movement of upstart, tradition-defying winemakers who produce artisanal wines in styles that are unconventional for the appellation. The village of Saint-Émilion dates from the middle ages and it sits on low hills, surrounded by ancient walls. Like its neighbor Pomerol, Saint-Émilion was not included in the famous Bordeaux classification system of 1855. But a century later a ranking system was put in place, and unlike the classification system for the Medoc, the Saint-Émilion system is reviewed every ten years, meaning that estates can be upgraded or downgraded. There are three rankings: Grand Cru Classé, Premier Grand Cru Classé B and Premier Grand Cru Classé A, with the final ranking being the best. Such legendary Saint-Émilion estates as Châteaux Ausone and Cheval-Blanc are Premier Grand Cru Classé A, along with Châteaux Pavie and Angélus, both added to the classification in 2012. Wines in this appellation are primarily Merlot, mixed with Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.