In between Moulis and Saint Julien, Listrac is one of the six appellations in the Medoc, referred to as "the roof of Medoc" as it climbs to 43 metres above sea level. It is at this height that Chateau Fourcas Dupre lies on its soils of gravel, clay and limestone. The extensive gravel soils make this Chateau one of the most interesting wines I've tried from this small region. With equal quantities of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, plus a little Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, Fourcas Dupre is at its best at around a decade old, so I decided to try two different vintages, the 1999 and the 2004.
1999 Chateau Fourcas Dupre
Bright cherry notes, a little bit of wet forest floor some sweet aniseed and a bit of polish coming off the nose. The palate is savoury - a bit like charred beef, soft stone fruit, then some dark liquorice, some bitter plum skin and spice emerges. The palate is a touch thin, but there is a nudge of sweetness on the mid palate before the finish is dry, savoury with some woody characters, a little mocha and a resurgence of the aniseed on the back end that makes it come back to life. A good mature claret. 84pts
2004 Chateau Fourcas Dupre
Big, lush round cherries, cassis and a little sweet cabbage coming through. Some sweet chocolate comes off too with a bright, raspberry component coming through with some violet and talcum powder. The palate is dark, a lot more charcoal and burnt meat fat, full with some firm tannin and a lovely toasty character coming off. The finish is very savoury, dark liquorice, lots of coffee beans and bark. I really like this but it is a bit young. 87pts
Now for the teacher bit! Understanding the maturation of wine, and climate conditions can be a bit tricky, these two showed these factors perfectly. Maturation first - 1999 was a 'challenging vintage', with storms throughout August, but fortunately, Medoc fared a touch better than other appellations. Two thousand and four however was a cooler year, but a classic one - not in the "this will be a Classic-Californian-style-year-like-2005" but in a "this is proper Bordeaux" year.
The older wine is a bit 'dilute', and that will come from the terrible weather saturating its normally well drained soils. The 2004 however, shows quality, class, richness and depth, all things you would expect from a classic Bordeaux vintage, but without the sweet fruit bomb elements that you get from the likes of '05 and '10. They are both easily identifiable as the same Chateau, with the meatier, coffee flavours present in both wines, but there are very clear structural differences in the two wines.
Similarly, you can see the evolution of the wine with an extra five years ageing. The poorer older year exaggerates this a little so you really see how a wine ages, losing some primary fruit, developing softer secondary flavours of coffee and veggies and, of course, losing some of the firm tannin.
And here is the great bit. Normally to see this you will have to buy bottles of higher priced Bordeaux, but you can get (from independent wine merchants) a bottle of each of these wines, straight from the Chateau for under £45. They may not be the highest scoring wines, but they are both tasty and this is my buy of the year so far.
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