Château Jean Faure
Despite being situated just down the road from one of the most famous estates in St Emilion and indeed all Bordeaux, Château Jean Faure is by comparison relatively unknown, and certainly overlooked. I suspect in part this was because for many years it languished as one of hundreds rather undistinguished grand cru estates, without any superior grand cru classé or premier grand cru classé ranking. Without one of these accolades it can be difficult to get noticed in this, the largest of the region’s ‘big name’ appellations.
In recent years, however, the estate has developed a somewhat higher profile. Partly this is down to the quality of the wines, once made with advice from Michel Rolland, more recently Stéphane Derenoncourt, and more recently still Hubert de Boüard de Laforest. The significant step up came in 2012 though, when the property was elevated once again (it has bounced up and down somewhat over the years) to the rank of grand cru classé in the St Emilion classification, not quite three decades since it had last been demoted. This would appear to be, if such things are anything to judge by, an estate on the up once again.
In this profile I detail the story of Château Jean Faure, from the 19th century and the Chaperon family, through to the modern-day proprietor, Olivier Decelle, as well as looking at the vineyards, vinifications and tasting notes. First, though, I begin by exploring the estate’s rather obscure origins, which lie somewhere in the 17th or 18th centuries (or maybe even earlier than that).
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