Anyone heard of Vignobles (Jean-Claude) Fabris?

[esl]

I have never heard of any of their wines.

Yesterday as part of a larger buy I got one each of the following: 2015 La Rose du Temple(Pomerol), 2019 Dargan (Moulis), and 2019 Champs des Sables (Montagne St. Emilion). They are all made by Jean-Claude Fabris. There is not much info on him(them) or on the châteaux on the internet. A search of this board turned up nothing. I did find on-line that they have a few other châteaux; des Templiers (Pomerol), du Petit-Brouard (Lalande-de-Pomerol), Chatain (Montagne St. Emilion), and Haute Vallée (Bordeaux Supérieur). The Dargan and Champs des Sables were $25 and $20 respectively. The La Rose du Temple was $47.

Last night, I opened the Dargan and poured a glass for each of us without decanting. The immediate nose reminded me more of an inexpensive Beaujolais – simple bright red cherry with a hint of bubblegum. The wine also had a similar taste to a Beaujolais but was more tannic not a lot more going on flavor wise. I poured the remainder of the bottle and my wife’s glass into a decanter and let it sit for about 45 minutes. By then dinner was ready. I poured us each another glass – no real change. Had I been served this blind I would never have guessed this was a Bordeaux. My wife agreed and said it tasted more like one of those $5 bottles of “California” Pinot Noir you find at places like Trader Joe’s. Well, here we are Saturday afternoon and little improvement. I don’t think this is going through some dumb phase. I just think this wine will never improve. There is just very little “there” there. Far better Bordeaux available at that price. I would not buy again. This does not give me high hopes for the other two wines from them.

The back label for all three have very similar in wording - from the Dargan. “Located in the heart of the Moulis appellation and between Margaux and Saint-Julien AC’s. Chateau Dargan is among the most renown of the Médoc area[really?] The soil is ….” I hope you get the picture, it reads like a template where they just insert the different place names in the appropriate spot. The front label of the Dargan is a line drawing of the church in Moulis. The labels of the two wines they offer from Montagne St. Emilion use a picture of the same chateau. They all say on the front “Mis en Bouteille au Château” but the address on all of them is 10 Rue de l’Abbé, Bergey, St. Emilion. Is this some négotiant who is bottling separate wines from different appelations at one location?