Château Fonplegade — Attraction in Libourne

Fonplegade was one of the first Bordeaux wineries we were introduced to. They make some really nice Right Bank wines. We took the time visit there some years ago and had a wonderful experience.

With that said, it pains me to write this review, but it needs to be said: these folks are attempting felony larceny on a ridiculous scale. It's everything that is wrong with Bordeaux today.

Here's the problem: they treat their customers really poorly. For several years now I have been on their mailing list to get "allocations" (due simply to visiting). Allocations of what, you might ask? The exact same wine we can all buy at Total Wine or any other retailer. Here's the catch: they charge insanely high markups for their wines when sold direct. Not like full retail, but like almost restaurant markup prices. As I write this, I have just been given the "opportunity" to buy up to two cases and 1 magnum. They won't even sell you a partial case, you can only buy 12 at a time (why? Greed.). They want EIGHTY TWO DOLLARS A BOTTLE. Folks, this is a $40-45 bottle of wine and it has been such for a decade or more. The most extreme sites online have it for $50-60, but that's too high really. It's great at that $45 price range. It's not great at nearly double that; there are many other second growth choices at that price range. They're apparently so embarrassed by this shameful attempted larceny (as they should be) that they won't even show you the price on their allocation page until you put it in your cart and do the math yourself. Clearly they're hoping you don't notice the ridiculous price, and I'm sure many trusting customers won't.

Before you get the idea this is some sort of tariffs problem, rest assured that they have been overpricing their direct wine sales for years. I'm so disappointed by these manipulative pricing tactics. I've given them this feedback before and they ignored me. They'll probably ignore this as well.

When you do visit the winery, they tell you this lovely story about American grocery store magnates turned wine lovers and how much all the guests love them and their big parties. It's lovely, and you kind of want to be a part of it. I wish it was true, but in light of their sales tactics I can reach no conclusion except that they are catering to people of a certain age with too much money and too little sense of what value is, and they are optimizing to extract too much profit from these unsuspecting customers who don't understand what wine is worth. It's really a shame to see that in the end they are apparently grocery store robber barons using the same tactics to overcharge customers for wines as they'd use for batteries at the checkout line. I'll perhaps buy a few bottles when I can find a good value, but only if I can get past that feeling of wanting to throw up a little bit when I remember how they have attempted to steal from me and others with egregious and disreputable sales practices. YMMV.

There are only two ethical choices here - if they think the wine is really worth what they charge directly, then they should put it in the distribution market at that price and see what happens. Alternately, they should charge loyal customers on the list a value that approximates a fair retail price, OR possibly give a discount for a case qty instead of a markup (gasp). Maybe free shipping from CA for case quantities. And knock it off with the minimum 12 bottle quantity - that's not normal even for St. Emilion (six bottles is much...

My girlfriend and I had the pleasure of visiting Chateau Fonplegade this spring and it will be a memory that we hold dear for years and years to come! We were welcomed very warmly by the staff, especially our host Hakima. The setting was intimate and we felt like we were family. I'm looking forward to coming back and making this a regular stop during our frequent trips to the...

Chateau Fonplegade is a beautiful vineyard located next to the picturesque town of Saint Emilion. The tour was informative & fun and the wines at the wine-tasting were excellent. The staff was very kind and social and made the experience 'one to remember'.

I recomend you take a look and go and see the town of Saint...