2004 Château Belair

Community Tasting Notes (37) Avg Score: 89.4 points

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  9/15/2023 - racerchris Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Decanted before starting dinner prep, and consumed over the next 2 hours. Deep garnet color with no bricking.
  Opened quickly in the glass. Subtle nose of cedar and spices. Sweet red and blue fruit with baking spices, earth, and slightly bitter tannin. Medium weight and moderate finish. Quite nice by itself, but definitely better with food. Fully mature with some years left in hand. 91+

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  6/19/2022 - Everything Ahead wrote: 93 Points

  This was brought by RacerChris and (I believe) decanted for a couple of hours beforehand. I had never had this producer's wine before, and found it to be a very harmonious, balanced old-school style of Bordeaux that still has a lot of vitality left and drinks like a younger wine. I enjoyed the crunchy green bell pepper, subtle smoke and minty notes, which made me think of Chinon or of a more Cab Franc-dominated wine. Not overtly fruity; I thought of LaGrange (St Julien) a bit with this. Still has some slightly drying tannins, but these keep it honest and make the wine exceptionally food-friendly. It seems to be in a great spot now, but seems balanced enough to go another 10 years no problem, although not sure on how or whether it will improve. Not a dense or overly complex wine, but one of poise and balance. Quietly seductive. Thanks to Chris for bringing this!

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  1/22/2022 - racerchris Likes this wine:

  Drank with friends. Everyone enjoyed.

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  12/22/2021 - racerchris Likes this wine: 91 Points

  PnP, and drank over 2 evenings.
  Blueberry and plum dominated on opening, a bit tight still on the second glass.
  On the second night it had settled down and showed even better than our first bottle.

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  12/17/2021 - racerchris Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Double decanted in the morning. A pleasing fruity aroma reached my nose as I was pouring. Transparent red color with no garnet or bricking noticed.
  Consumed in the evening with appetizers and during dinner prep.
  This is a nice classically styled dry wine, showing subtle fruit elements with earthiness and firm tannins that gradually settle into the background. Drinking well now and I see some upside to further cellaring.
  Very good/excellent.

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View all 37 Community Tasting Notes

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