Chateau de la Fuente is the Fuente family’s 300-plus-acre tobacco farm located in the mineral-rich Bonao Valley of the Dominican Republic. It came into existence when Don “Carlito” Carlos Fuente Junior, the present-day boss of Arturo Fuente, became determined to grow his family’s own inventory of tobacco instead of purchasing it (or importing it) from the estates of others.
Starting with a 37-acre plot sold to him by the legendary Angel Oliva of the Oliva tobacco-growing company, Carlito built the Chateau into the picturesque estate it is currently. Today, the Chateau is known for cultivating the finest tobaccos in the Dominican Republic and maybe even the world.
This vitola, the Double Chateau Fuente, is a Churchill-sized variation on the stick that shows off what the Fuentes have been growing at the Chateau; in this version, Ecuadorean sun-grown wrapper surrounds the best tobaccos the Chateau’s private family reserve offers.
This complex, rich, medium-strength but full-bodied cigar offers a range of sweet and spicy flavors, from sweet dried apple and dark chocolate/cocoa to nutmeg and toast, layered on top of leather, cedar, earth and coffee, along with a floral finish.
Cigar Aficionado rated this cedar-sleeved vitola a 90, calling it a “blockbuster.” If you want to see for yourself what the Fuentes have to offer from the patches of their private reserve, these are precisely the sticks to order.