Chateau Fourcas Hosten 2019

Chateau Fourcas Hosten, Listrac Medoc, Bordeaux, France, 2019

Grapes: 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 48% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. All vineyards replanted since 2010. Under conversion to organic farming. Yield 27hl/ha. Ageing 12 months in French oak (43% new, the remainder in first/second fill barrels)

This 50-hectare estate is situated just to the northeast of the town of Listrac, with vineyards bordering Château Clarke, Dupré and the former Fourcas Borie. Around half of Fourcas Hosten's holdings lie on gravel soils, and here eight hectares of Cabernet Franc that never ripened have been replaced with Cabernet Sauvignon. Much of the rest of the estate is on clay soils (so, employing cover crops has facilitated their management during the growing season), and it's here that Merlot is planted, with white varieties on limestone soils. Organic trials began in 2017, and as of the 2021 vintage, the grand vin is certified organic. Winemaking is thoughtful, with 45 tanks for some 35 hectares currently in production, permitting lot-by-lot vinification; and since 2016, optical sorting has been the order of the day. 

Critics' Tasting Notes:

"Black almost to the rim. Savoury and dark on the nose. Rocky and dark. Strict but fine-grained tannins, more chalky than thick. This has great fruit at the core and needs time for the tannins to allow the fruit to be more central. Big, dark, demanding for now."

16.5++/20 points, Julia Harding MW, JANCISROBINSON.COM December 2021

"The 2019 Fourcas Hosten unwinds in the glass with notes of sweet black fruits, cherries, loamy soil and nicely integrated new oak. While some of the estate's young vines suffered from hydric stress in this dry vintage, this has a lively core of fruit and ripe tannins that assert themselves on the finish. Medium to full-bodied, supple and layered, it's a very promising wine that illustrates the estate's upward trajectory."

90+/100 points, William Kelley, WINE ADVOCATE, October 2022