Château Figeac

A large Gallo-Roman villa belonging to the Figeacus family stood on the site of the present-day château as early as the 2nd century, and the property became a seigniory in the Middle Ages, held by the Decazes family and, through marriage, the Carles family. Raymond Decazes rebuilt the château in 1586 after it was burnt down during the Wars of Religion, and the Carles family later added the château's late-18th-century facade and courtyard features following Marie Decazes's 1654 marriage into the family. In 1832, Countess Felicite de Carle-Trajet sold the first parcels of the larger Figeac estate following a reversal of fortune; the estate as it exists today occupies the heart of that former property, around the three gravel hills and the château. In 1892, Henriette de Chevremont and her husband Andre Villepigue, the grandparents of Thierry Manoncourt, acquired the estate on the recommendation of their friend Albert Macquin, an agricultural engineer known for his work against phylloxera, who then ran Chateau Figeac for ten years. Robert Villepigue, Thierry Manoncourt's uncle, created the estate's still-used label for the 1906 vintage. Thierry Manoncourt, an agronomy engineer, came to Figeac in 1947 and devoted the rest of his life to it, establishing the estate's distinctive mix of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. He married Marie-France Duboys de Labarre in 1956 and served as President of the Jurade de Saint-Emilion for 23 years. Thierry Manoncourt (1917-2010) died on the eve of what would have been his 65th vintage; his wife and children have continued his work. The Manoncourt daughter Laure and her husband Count Eric d'Aramon ran the estate from the late 1980s until 2013, when the family appointed Frederic Faye, who had joined Figeac as an intern in 2002 and become technical manager in 2010, as Managing Director.

• Family-owned since 1892, when Henriette de Chevremont and Andre Villepigue, Thierry Manoncourt's grandparents, acquired the estate on the advice of agricultural engineer Albert Macquin
• Thierry Manoncourt (1917-2010) took over in 1947 and ran Figeac for more than 60 vintages, establishing its Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot balance
• Count Eric d'Aramon, married to the Manoncourts' daughter Laure, managed the estate from the late 1980s until 2013
• Frederic Faye joined as an intern in 2002, became technical manager in 2010, and has been Managing Director since 2013

Chateau Figeac today is run by members of the Manoncourt family alongside a professional management team. Marie-France Manoncourt, Thierry's widow, has been active at the estate since 1956 and serves as Honorary Chair, co-manager and co-owner. Their daughter Hortense Idoine Manoncourt, an engineer who graduated from the Angers School of Agriculture, is President of the Board and co-manager, and coordinates the estate's management. Another daughter, Blandine de Brier Manoncourt, a graduate of Sciences Po Bordeaux and a member of the Jurade de Saint-Emilion, is General Secretary and co-owner, focused on the estate's built and natural heritage, communication and legal protection. Frederic Faye, an agricultural engineer trained at Bordeaux Sciences Agro, is Managing Director. Jean-Valmy Nicolas, a graduate of HEC and a former McKinsey consultant who is also co-owner and co-manager of a family estate in Pomerol, joined the management team in 2013 as co-manager. On the winemaking side, the estate's own history names Michel Rolland as the consultant winemaker who succeeded Gilles Pauquet in 2013, alongside the reorganization that brought in Faye and Nicolas. Rolland (1947-2026), the Bordeaux oenologist known as one of the original 'flying winemakers,' died in March 2026.

• Marie-France Manoncourt: Honorary Chair, co-manager, co-owner, active at the estate since 1956
• Hortense Idoine Manoncourt: President of the Board, co-manager, co-owner; graduate of the Angers School of Agriculture
• Blandine de Brier Manoncourt: General Secretary, co-owner; graduate of Sciences Po Bordeaux and a member of the Jurade de Saint-Emilion
• Frederic Faye: Managing Director since 2013; graduate of Bordeaux Sciences Agro
• Jean-Valmy Nicolas: co-manager since 2013; HEC graduate and former McKinsey consultant, also co-owner and co-manager of a family estate in Pomerol
• Michel Rolland (1947-2026) succeeded Gilles Pauquet as the estate's consultant winemaker in 2013

Chateau Figeac was ranked Premier Grand Cru Classe B at the creation of the Saint-Emilion classification in 1955, a rank it held for the better part of seven decades. The Saint-Emilion classification is reassessed roughly every ten years; in the 2012 classification, four estates held Premier Grand Cru Classe A status: Angelus, Ausone, Cheval Blanc and Pavie. Ahead of the 2022 classification, Angelus, Ausone and Cheval Blanc withdrew from the ranking system entirely, and Chateau Figeac became the only estate promoted into the top tier, joining Pavie as one of just two Premier Grand Cru Classe A estates in a list of 85 that also included 12 Premier Grand Cru Classe estates and 71 Grand Cru Classe estates. The Manoncourt family said the result rewarded 'sustained work over many years, a strong identity, the exceptional qualities of our terroir, the excellent wines we produce each vintage, and our singularity within St-Emilion and Bordeaux,' and Hortense Idoine-Manoncourt said the family saw it as recognition of the work accomplished over several decades, and as the fulfillment of a dream her father Thierry Manoncourt had held. Following the announcement, Decanter reported that Figeac's average market price had risen 47% over the prior three years according to Liv-ex data, with 2013, 2008 and 2005 its best-performing vintages on the secondary market as of September 2022.

• Classified Premier Grand Cru Classe B in 1955; promoted to Premier Grand Cru Classe A in the 2022 classification
• The only estate promoted into the top tier in 2022; Angelus, Ausone and Cheval Blanc (three of the four Premier Grand Cru Classe A estates from 2012) withdrew from the 2022 classification
• The 2022 list named 85 estates in total: 2 Premier Grand Cru Classe A, 12 Premier Grand Cru Classe, and 71 Grand Cru Classe
• Decanter/Liv-ex reported Figeac's average market price up 47% in the three years to September 2022, with 2013, 2008 and 2005 its best-performing vintages

Chateau Figeac sits in the heart of the Saint-Emilion area, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The estate spans 54 hectares (133 acres) in a single block, of which nearly 41 hectares (100 acres) are planted to vines; close to a quarter of the property is deliberately left unplanted to preserve biodiversity and a natural balance. The vineyard's terroir is a geological exception for the appellation: three Gunzian gravel outcrops of quartz and flint, several metres deep, over a subsoil of blue clay, forming a patchwork of plots planted with Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in roughly equal thirds, the balance Thierry Manoncourt established as he came to understand the terroir. He was, per the estate's own account, the first to plant Cabernet Sauvignon in significant proportions on the Right Bank. The oldest vines date to 1921 and the average vine age across the vineyard is 35 years; about 35% of the vineyard has been replanted in recent years following a detailed study of the estate's soil, climate and vegetation, while conserving its specific character. The team practices massal selection from old vines and maintains a 0.65-hectare (1.5-acre) legacy plot holding a selection of the estate's most remarkable vinestocks of all three grape varieties. The estate's own materials give two different vinestock counts: one page describes 275,000 individual vinestocks and another, quoting Managing Director Frederic Faye, gives 260,000. Nearly 12 of the estate's 54 hectares are preserved as natural areas with meadows, a lake, an arboretum, a bamboo plantation and a heath, and were listed as a 'natural wildlife reserve' in 2013. Chateau Figeac committed to ISO 14001 certification in 2015, the first Environmental Management System for a Bordeaux vineyard, and holds Level 3 HVE (High Environmental Value) certification.

• 54 hectares (133 acres) total, a single block, with nearly 41 hectares (100 acres) under vine; roughly a quarter of the estate deliberately left unplanted
• Terroir: three Gunzian gravel outcrops of quartz and flint over blue clay subsoil, planted to roughly one-third each of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot
• Oldest vines from 1921; average vine age 35 years; about 35% of the vineyard replanted in recent years; a 0.65-hectare legacy plot supports massal selection
• Nearly 12 hectares kept as natural areas, listed a wildlife reserve in 2013; ISO 14001-certified since 2015 and Level 3 HVE-certified

Chateau Figeac's grand vin draws its character from the estate's Gunzian gravel and blue clay terroir and its unusual mix of grape varieties: Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon together make up 70% of the blend, with Merlot the remainder. The estate has made a second wine since the 1945 vintage, a decision by Thierry Manoncourt that made Figeac one of the first estates on the Right Bank to produce one; sold as La Grange Neuve de Figeac until the 2011 vintage, it was renamed Petit-Figeac starting with the 2012 vintage and is made entirely from grapes grown on the Figeac estate. In 1970 the estate decided to ferment entirely in new barrels and to bottle entirely at the chateau. In 1971-1972, Thierry Manoncourt built an 1,800 m2 facility that made Figeac the third estate in Bordeaux to install stainless-steel vats, along with six vaulted underground cellars. In 2021, after two and a half years of construction, the estate inaugurated a new 5,000 m2, semi-underground winery built into the hillside, with two levels below ground, using gravity-feed processes for vinification and maturing. It centers on eight custom-made, FSC-certified French oak vats arranged in a circle, complemented by 40 truncated-cone stainless-steel vats designed for plot-by-plot and intra-plot vinification, plus a dedicated vat room for research and development. Wines then mature in two large underground barrel halls beneath the hill.

• Grand vin blend: Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon together 70%, Merlot the remainder
• Second wine made since the 1945 vintage (one of the first on the Right Bank); sold as La Grange Neuve de Figeac until 2011, renamed Petit-Figeac from the 2012 vintage
• 1970: decision to ferment entirely in new barrels and bottle entirely at the chateau; 1971-1972: new facility made Figeac the third Bordeaux estate to use stainless-steel vats
• 2021: new 5,000 m2 gravity-feed winery inaugurated, with 8 custom French oak vats and 40 stainless-steel vats for plot-by-plot vinification, plus an R&D vat room

Chateau Figeac's own materials point to several markers of its recent critical and commercial standing. Wine Enthusiast's Roger Voss analyzed the character of Figeac's three grape varieties and the conditions of the 2018 vintage in an article the estate describes as covering 'the Making of a 100-Point Wine,' crediting Voss with a score of 100 out of 100 for that vintage. The 2017 vintage was included in Wine Spectator's Top 100. According to the estate, the 2019 vintage received an average critic score of 98.38 out of 100, sourced by the estate to Global Wine Score, and Figeac held a place in the top 50 of the Liv-ex Power 100 ranking of the wine market's most powerful brands for three consecutive years running as of 2020. Following the 2022 classification promotion, Decanter reported, citing Liv-ex data, that Figeac's average market price had risen 47% over the preceding three years.

• Wine Enthusiast's Roger Voss scored the 2018 vintage 100/100, per the estate's own account of his article
• The 2017 vintage was included in Wine Spectator's Top 100
• The 2019 vintage averaged 98.38/100 across critics, per Global Wine Score as cited by the estate
• Figeac ranked in the top 50 of the Liv-ex Power 100 for three consecutive years as of 2020; its average market price rose 47% in the three years to September 2022 (Decanter/Liv-ex)

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://www.chateau-figeac.com/en/, https://www.chateau-figeac.com/en/the-place/, https://www.chateau-figeac.com/en/the-builders/, https://www.chateau-figeac.com/en/the-wine/, https://www.chateau-figeac.com/en/lovers/, https://www.chateau-figeac.com/en/made-to-measure/. Secondary sources: Les Vins de Saint-Emilion (the appellation body), https://vins-saint-emilion.com/en/welcome-in-the-vineyard/the-2022-classification/; Decanter, https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/st-emilion-2022-classification-promotes-chateau-figeac-to-premier-grand-cru-classe-a-487144/ (8 September 2022); The Drinks Business, https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2026/03/wine-world-mourns-wine-legend-michel-rolland/ (23 March 2026). Last verified 2026-09-13. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs; where two pages on the producer's own site disagree, both figures are given (see conflicts.json).