Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews. Learn more.
Manage Subscriptions1961 Château Belair (Dubois-Challon)
Red Bordeaux Blend
- France
- Bordeaux
- Libournais
- St. Émilion Grand Cru
Community Tasting Notes 6
-
vagrantone wrote: 88 points
October 19, 2023 - First of four bottles purchased at auction.
Med-top shoulder fill.
One third of cork is dried out and has turned black.
Not decanted.
Unusually deep color for an older Bordeaux wine. One of the 2-3 deepest I have ever seen. Good clarity.
Interesting evolved nose. Little to nothing in the fruit department, Cedary notes. A strange singed cotton candy note. Heavy earthy notes/decaying forest floor. A very slight pickled note.
The texture is surprisingly light, in contrast to the nose. For the vintage, it clearly lacks depth and structure. Not much noticeable tannin, but what's there is drying note.
Right call not to decant.
Medium length finishing on cedary notes.
A slight disappointment given he pedigree and vintage but still enjoyable with dinner.
Past its prime. -
Cailles wrote: 84 points
October 17, 2021 - 30x 1955 & 1961 (mostly Bdx): Tasted single blind. This bottle was not very good, only medium expressive with not much substance, no precision. The wine was quickly drying out. There were some pleasureable moments with one or the other sniff showing nicely mature notes or an ok-ish attack but overall no winner.
-
sirpat00 wrote: 90 points
September 20, 2021 - Grand 1961 vs 1955 vintage tasting (Fribourg): Big 1961 vs 1955 tastings including 10 direct match-ups and 11 individual wines from 1961. The tasting was conducted in flights of 4, single-blind and with no previous decant with all bottles opened 1h prior to start. The line-up was dominated by Bordeaux reds, but also included 5 Sauternes, 1 Champagne, 3 Burgundy reds and 1 Ribera del Duero. The following observations are worth mentioning: i) 1961 generally came across as a better vintage today than 1955, ii) the performance correlated with the 1855 classification, iii) The most outstanding wines were outside of the Bordeaux reds with Veuve Clicquot Rosé '61, Vega Sicilia Unico '61 (both 97) and La Tour Blanche '61 (96) worth mentioning, iv) Top-performing Bordeaux was Margaux (95) in 1961 and Mouton in 1955. List of wines included in the tasting story.
Tasting note:
Aging notes of forest floor, red and overall pretty ripe berry fruit. Fresh with a surprisingly fruity palate, albeit with a somewhat weakish structure. This was ok and I wouldn't mind popping a bottle anytime I stumble across this. But nothing stood out. -
DrinkBordeaux wrote: 89 points
January 27, 2017 - 1961 Bordeaux tasting (Wine Watch, Fort Lauderdale, Florida): While one of the least impressive of the tasting, this was still quite enjoyable. This obviously passed its peak awhile ago. Amber color. Cherry, blackberry, anise, damp leather, and mushroom. Quite lean on the palate. Noticeably high acidity that created a tartness. Fruit faded after two hours. I would drink these up now if you have them, as they are just hanging on to life.
-
robmatic wrote: 92 points
November 22, 2016 - Thanks to my friend Eric for bringing this gem to my birthday dinner. I've learned not to expect too much from old bottles, and not recognizing the chateau as anything really famous, this was no different. But upon pouring, I was impressed by the first sniff and the first sip. A bit dusty, with a touch of green pepper, but not a hint of oxidation or degeneration. The nose got better quickly with a little air, becoming quite interesting with pleasant tea and herbal notes. Plenty of structure surviving in this juice, very soft tannins, sufficient acidity, and fruit that was faded but still kicking pretty well. I've had lots of wines from 1961 and this is among the most interesting and pleasurable.
1 person found this helpful Comment
Pro Reviews 3
Add a Pro ReviewView From the Cellar
-
By John Gilman
May/Jun 2019, Issue #81, Châteaux Bélair-Monange and Magdelaine Is the Marriage Working in St. Émilion?(Château Bélair (Nicolas Bottling)) Subscribe to see review text.
-
By John Gilman
May/Jun 2016, Issue #63, Recently Tasted Right Bank Gems 2008 Back to 1947 And Vintage Guide(Château Bélair (St. Émilion)) Subscribe to see review text.
RJonWine.com
-
By Richard Jennings
9/28/2007 (link) 91 points(Château Belair (Dubois-Challon)) Medium garnet red color; cedar, cherry and tart cherry nose; in good shape, tart cherry, cedar palate with a touch of horseradish and bell pepper; medium finish 91+ pts. (owned in 1961 by Ausone, and planted 60% to Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc) (good fill)
Wine Definition
- Vintage 1961
- Type Red
- Producer Château Belair (Dubois-Challon)
- Varietal Red Bordeaux Blend
- Designation n/a
- Vineyard n/a
- Country France
- Region Bordeaux
- SubRegion Libournais
- Appellation St. Émilion Grand Cru
Community Holdings
- Pending Delivery 1 (5%)
- In Cellars 13 (59%)
- Consumed 8 (36%)
Food Pairing
Who Likes This Wine
More About This Wine
Articles
- ProducerChâteau Belair (Dubois-Challon)
- VarietyRed Bordeaux Blend
- CountryFrance
- RegionBordeaux
- SubRegionLibournais
- AppellationSt. Émilion Grand Cru
Add Articles
- Wine1961 Château Belair (Dubois-Challon) (add)
- FamilyChâteau Belair (Dubois-Challon) (add)
- ProducerChâteau Belair (Dubois-Challon)
- VarietalRed Bordeaux Blend
- CountryFrance
- RegionBordeaux
- SubRegionLibournais
- AppellationSt. Émilion Grand Cru