Château Fontenil

Owned by Bordeaux's most prominent oenologist, Michel Rolland, and his oenologist wife, Dany, since 1986, Château Fontenil may be Fronsac's most known estate. It is famed not only for its owners, but also for a special cuvée that was born out of bureaucratic frustration, Défi de Fontenil. In 2000, in order to prevent rain from diluting his grapes, Rolland placed plastic sheeting between the rows of a parcel of his vines so that the water would collect into ditches on the side of his vineyard. As this is a forbidden practice for vintaged appellation wines, the authorities forbade Rolland from producing his normal Fronsac and only gave him the right to produce a non-vintaged Vin de Table, the lowest wine category. In defiance, he continued forward and created Défi de Fontenil, an annual yet non-vintaged production created from this same parcel (and grown with plastic sheeting intact). In addition to this more infamous and micro-bottling, they also produce a flagship wine called Château Fontenil from the majority of their 9 hectares, a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, and a wine that benefits from the Rolland's blending expertise.