External search
Google (images)
Wine Advocate
Wine Spectator
Burghound
Wine-Searcher
Vintages
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
Show more
From this producer
Show all wines
All tasting notes
|
| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 87.8 pts. and median of 88 pts. in 26 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Jonne on 1/16/2022 & rated 90 points: Välpolerat och välbalanserat med en hel del frukt i behåll och något fatrostad smak. Aningen mylla i doften påminner om de 21 åren. Verkligen inget fyrverkeri men trevligt att dricka till både julskinkepytt och på egen hand. (973 views) | | | Tasted by alanh13 on 11/24/2017: The nose seems mature, a little musty and a touch of oxidation. Cork was 50% soaked. On the palate it’s short. This seems more like a cru bourgeois from the mid 90s or even late 80s. Some very Bordeaux qualities so good but not where you would expect the wine to be for it’s clsssification. (3587 views) | | | Tasted by alanh13 on 8/3/2017: Coravin tasting. Seems better than a few days ago. Nose has medium intensity, nice on the palate. Fruit and oak however short finish, a little thin. Had it with Gouda this name, so maybe that improved it. (3890 views) | | | Tasted by alanh13 on 7/29/2017: Coravin tasting. Nose is classic Bordeaux. Some obvious oak, even American oak. On the palate it's oak, a little fruit but quite thin. Like water on the finish. Ok on its own but can't see this standing up to food. Seems like a petit chateau Bordeaux with oak but no real substance. (3879 views) | | | Tasted by latimer on 4/3/2015 & rated 87 points: some brambly merlot fruit, very soft but tired and drying out somewhat. Boring and nowhere near 1e cru standard... (6047 views) | | | Tasted by mhurford on 11/8/2014 flawed bottle: Sadly slightly corked (5673 views) | | | Tasted by mhurford on 12/21/2013 & rated 89 points: Brambles & forest floor though thinning now with restrained fruit and a slightly tart finish. (4456 views) | | | Tasted by moods on 11/27/2013 & rated 81 points: Thin thru the mid palate and a short finish. Long past its best. (3955 views) | | | Tasted by Andrewbdc on 12/31/2011 & rated 88 points: After reading the other reviews I was worried I had kept this too long do decided to serve the remaining bottles for our New Year's Eve dinner. No one, particularly my French friends, were disappointed - in fact drinking beautifully right now. It does need opening well in advance, and decanting would be a good idea as there is a fine sediment. Colour still a darkish red. Good fruit on the nose. Tannins and oak well integrated. Medium finish. I don't think it is worth what I paid for it a few years ago, but still a very nice bottle. (6158 views) | | | Tasted by moods on 12/17/2011 & rated 85 points: Good, but not great. Especially for the price tag. Little bit thin after the initial attack. Nose promises more than the palate can deliver. Might leave the last bottle a little longer as an experiment. Just in case this wine has a mighty dumb period! (4553 views) | | | Tasted by moods on 7/18/2011 & rated 84 points: Bit of an enigma this one. Plenty of stewed fruit on the nose. Sweet and savoury. Perhaps similar to some roasting meat juices. Fruit follows on to the fore of the palate. Similar characteristics to the nose. Quite silky in feel, thanks to reasonable acidity. But then it all justs falls away in an instant. Later glasses suffer more, with the nose and palate quickly tiring. A good wine, but not great; would expect more for over £30 a bottle. (4561 views) | | | Tasted by ticktock on 3/31/2011: Agree with previous note. Pleasant with dinner but the wine is losing its grip. (4114 views) | | | Tasted by amateurwino on 11/23/2010 & rated 87 points: Tasted but specific notes not kept; from recall, decent with some coffee overtones. 86-88 (4242 views) | | | Tasted by moods on 8/15/2010 & rated 86 points: A good whiff of oak and some stewed plum fruit. Leather. Palate is soft, perhaps not as much depth of flavour as I would like. Good level of acidity and a tannic backbone relatively intact. Not tremendous in length. Not quite what I had hoped for. (3461 views) | | | Tasted by ticktock on 2/20/2010 & rated 88 points: Fruit is waning in this one. Time to drink up. The acid is there and the tannins are still present however. The wine improved with time over the evening. (3631 views) | | | Tasted by moods on 5/10/2009 & rated 88 points: Looking slightly aged. Nose has secondary characters, some spice, leather and tobacco. Not a lot of fruit, even after allowing time in decanter and glass. Palate has a touch more fruit, very plummy and slightly stewed, but still a little thin. Good dose of tannin, and a reasonable finish. Not sure this has many more years, unless it is going through a closed down phase right now. (3882 views) | | | Tasted by Slics on 3/23/2009 & rated 86 points: Garnet colour, a bit of age. Tight nose, some cherry and wood. Thin on palate with some slightly fwd tannin; fruit didn't keep up. Stay away from Belair in less than excellent vintages. (4026 views) | | | Tasted by Slics on 7/7/2008: Characteristic. Not a big wine but well balanced. Ready to drink. (4099 views) | | | Tasted by SimonK on 11/6/2007 & rated 88 points: Merlot from Bordeaux (Weinforum Frankfurt): Pleseant light and elegant nose
Strong Tannins, fruit l closed down but overall well balanced. Promising (4924 views) | | | Tasted by pontac on 4/18/2007 & rated 90 points: CLWS - Bordeaux Wine & Dine (Central London Wine Society, London): Beautiful bouquest, cedar, hint mint. Quite dry on front palate, elegant claret with apparent wood tannins coming through on a long finish. WOTN (5196 views) | | | Tasted by Russell Faulkner on 11/2/2005: 2001 Claret Tasting (Vintners' Hall, London): Light purple, odd nose, more like a grenache, soft, simple, no stuffing (8082 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Château Belair (Dubois-Challon) Producer website – Read more about Chateau BelairRed Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.France Vins de France (Office National Interprofessionnel des Vins ) | Pages Vins, Directory of French Winegrowers | French Wine (Wikipedia)
Wine Scholar Guild vintage ratings
2018 vintage: "marked by a wet spring, a superb summer and a good harvest"
2019 vintage reports
2021: "From a general standpoint, whether for white, rosé or red wines, 2021 is a year marked by quality in the Rhône Valley Vineyards. Structured, elegant, fresh and fruity will be the main keywords for this new vintage."
2022 harvest: idealwine.info | wine-searcher.comBordeaux Bordeaux Wine Guide
Vins Bordeaux (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux)
History of Bordeaux
History of 1855 Bordeaux Classification
"2009 is all about ripeness, with wines impressively packed with ripe fruit and high alcohol levels. They are showy, in-your-face, and full of pleasure. The 2010s have the fruit and alcohol levels of the 2009s, but with a compelling freshness on the finish that balances the fruit and provides a perfect sense of structure." - Ben Nelson
"2016 is a landmark vintage in certain spots of Bordeaux and it should be remembered as one of the most inspired campaigns of the last 40-50+ years." -Jon Rimmerman
"The quality of red Bordeaux in 2016 was universally lauded – although the response to the en primeur campaign was muted. Quantity was high too, with the equivalent of 770 million bottles of wine produced. An exceptionally dry summer with cool nights eventually, thanks to mid September rain, resulted in small, thick-skinned, ripe grapes, and the wines are marked by high tannin and acidity, with superb aromatic fragrance." - Jancis Robinson
"2017 was complicated, but there are some excellent wines. Expect plenty of freshness and drinkability from wines that will offer excellent value, and others that will rival 2016 in terms of ripeness and ageability. But they are likely to be the exception not the rule, making careful selection key." - Jane Anson
"In the past, a vintage such as 2022 may have been overripe, raisined and low in acidity but 2022 had a sneaky little reservoir in its back pocket - a near perfect marriage of cool/cold/rain the previous winter and the previous vintage that literally soaked the soils (a key to why 2022 is not 2003...or 1893)." - Jon RimmermanLibournais Libournais (Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux) - Read more about St. Emilion and its wines - Read more about Pomerol and its wines
Saint Emilion Grat Classified Growth, Classified Growths, Grands Crus Classes, GCC
In 1954, while the "Graves" growths had just published their own classification, the wine syndicate of Saint-Emilion, composed by wine growers, brokers and wine traders with the approval of the INAO - Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (A.O.C), decided to work on a classification for the wines of Saint Emilion. Initially, four grades were defined. These were reduced to two - First Great Classified Growth (A and B) and Great Classified Growth - in 1984.
As of Medoc's 1855 historical grading, the Saint-Emilion Great Classified Growth classification is not only based on qualitative criteria by tasting the wines on a ten years period previous to the assessment, but also on commercial considerations such as:
- sales price levels
- national and international commercial distribution
- the estate's reputation on the market
Properties who don't manage to join the club of about sixty Classified Growths are given the denomination of Great Growth ("Grand Cru"), while the remaining wineries of the A.O.C are simply reported as "Saint-Emilion". It is to be noted that the owners must officially apply to appear in the official classification. Thus for example the famous Chateau Tertre-Roteboeuf, whose quality and reputation would easily justify to be listed among the First Great Classified Growths, does not appear here by the will of its owner, François Mitjaville.
The Saint-Emilion Great Growth classification was revised in 1969, 1985, 1996 and 2006. The only two guaranteed vintage (A.O.C) who can apply to the classification are the "Saint-Emilion Grand Cru" and "Saint-Emilion" areas.
By grading 61 properties, the 2006 revision confirmed many growths from the former classification, but also caused a number of surprises and a few inevitable disappointments. Many observers thought that the impressive progression of Perse's Chateau Pavie since 1998 would be rewarded by an upgrade into the First Great Classified Growths (A) category, but finally such was not the case.
Among the estates promoted to the First Great Classified Growths B category are Chateau Troplong-Mondot and Pavie-Macquin, whose efforts made since the Nineties fully justify their new grade. It should be noted that no First Great Classified Growth was relegated to the lower Great Classified Growth class.
Promoted growths from the status of Great Growth ("Grand Cru") to Great Classified Growth ("Grand Cru Classe") are: Chateaux Bellefont-Belcier, Destieux, Fleur Cardinale, Grand Corbin, Grand Corbin-Despagne and Monbousquet.
The demoted growths from the status of Great Classified Growth to Great Growth are: Chateaux Bellevue, Cadet Bon, Faurie de Souchard, Guadet Saint-Julien, La Tour du Pin-Figeac (Belivier), La Tour du Pin-Figeac (Moueix), Lamarzelle, Petite Faurie de Soutard, Tertre Daugay, Villemaurine and Yon-Figeac. If the recent samples of some of the above mentioned properties may justify their current downgrade, there are great chances that estates like Bellevue, Tertre Daugay or Yon-Figeac will be upgraded to their previous rankings by the next revision in 2016 as the progresses noted after 2000, but not entering in the range of vintages (1993 - 2002) appointed for the criteria of selection for the 2006 classification, are noticable.
The two following estates have completely disappeared from the Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classification: Curé-Bon-la-Madeleine (integrated meanwhile to Chateau Canon) and La Clusière (integrated meanwhile to Chateau Pavie).
Finally, no estate considered as "garagiste" has integrated the classification. Valandraud, Mondotte, Le Dome, Bellevue-Mondotte or Magrez-Fombrauge have, for the least, the potential to be ranked as Great Classified Growths. In sight of the very fine quality reached by the above mentioned estates in recent vintages as well as all the innovative wine making methods used by the "garagistes", it remains to be seen whether the authorities will dare to cross the line in 2016..?St. Émilion Grand Cru Les Vins de St. Émilion (Syndicate Vitocole de Saint-Emilion) – Read about St. Emilion
Vins de Bordeaux:
Grape Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot
Soil: Sandy soils with alluvial gravel deposits
Surface Area: 4,160 ha |
|
