BACKGROUND: The Fuente family's tobacco roots can be traced to old-world Cuba. Arturo Fuente, the company namesake, was born in 1887 in Cuba. From his father, he learned the art of cultivating top quality tobacco and also mastered the requisite skills for manufacturing top quality hand made cigars. In 1906, Fuente immigrated to Key West, Florida and would eventually move his family to Ybor City, which was considered by many at that time as the cigar capital of the World. In 1912, Arturo rolled the first cigars bearing the Fuente family name. Soon, son Carlos and grandson Carlito would carry the torch for the family and the Fuente name has been associated with super premium products ever since.

The Arturo Fuente Gran Reserva line represents Four Generations of Fuente family tradition. Though often overshadowed by the more prestigious lines, like the Opus X, Don Carlos, Hemingway Series and Casa Fuente, the Gran Reserva cigars are a blend of art and craftsmanship and require the highest quality tobaccos and hand workmanship.

With the success of the Gran Reserva line, the Fuente family knew they needed to extend the line with a fuller-bodied cigar. The solution was to add a Sun Grown wrapper to the already excellent blend. The Chateau Series Sun Grown uses the same Dominican binder and filler blend as the rest of Fuente’s Gran Reserva line. The difference is the exclusive Ecuadorian sun grown wrapper, which is grown in limited quantities and is much sought after around the world. The Chateau Fuente Sungrown uses an Ecuadorian Sungrown wrapper, which is also a more expensive and sought-after leaf.

The Sungrown wrapper, is distinguished by being naturally sweeter in taste. The unique flavor of the wrapper is a result of being exposed to a greater amount of sun, wind, rain and other punishing conditions of nature, which force the tobacco to draw more nutrients from the soil, becoming stronger, more robust, and flavorful. This review will consider the Double Chateau, a 6.75-inch x 50 ring Churchill.

TASTING NOTES: This cigar starts out with rich, earthy flavors like a great Cabernet Sauvignon. It also has toasty barbecue flavors and maybe a little smoked hickory. The retrohale is marvelous. Woody, toasty, oaky, peppery. And the nose feel lingers. It's kind of like taking red chili pepper and placing it onto your nasal mucosa. It stays long after the initial contact.

This is really an enjoyable cigar and an easy cigar to smoke. It is medium in body during the first half. So, in that sense, it would be accessible to the palates of a wide range of cigar smokers. But it also has such a complexity of flavors that makes it an interesting and challenging smoke.

The only negative of this particular cigar is that it seemed to be a bit under-humidified. The ash was flaky and wanted to fall off in small chunks.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Although I wouldn't rank this among my favorite smokes of all time, this is nonetheless a no-brainer choice. There is nothing not to like about this stick. It is consistently well-made, has an interesting mix of flavors, has a body and flavor profile that will appeal to a wide cross section of smokers, and is priced right. This is a "bread and butter" cigar and a great candidate for an every day smoke. You almost can't afford NOT to try this cigar. I recommend it highly.

~Doc