2005 Bellevue Mondotte

Made up of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the opaque bluish/purple 2005 from Bellevue-Mondotte offers amazing chocolate espresso notes along with blueberry and blackberry liqueur, some incense and a hint of flowers. Full-bodied and staggeringly concentrated, this blockbuster wine (in a blockbuster vintage) is unreal. Talk about a wine that is beyond belief – this is a great achievement from Chantal and Gérard Perse. Drink it over the next 25-30 years. Sadly, there were only 340 or so cases produced.

Dark crimson. Scented and sweet. Gentler than some other wines from this stable. But still a bit aggressive. (JR)

(this small vineyard is an extension of Pavie-Decesse, on limestone soil; 90% merlot and 5% each cabernet franc and sauvignon, from a yield of just 15 hectoliters per hectare) Saturated deep ruby. Superripe aroma of kirsch; distinct signs of surmaturite Sweet, chewy and a bit brutal, with a powerful flavor of black raspberry, complicated by licorice and leather. Impressively concentrated but distinctly chunky and unformed today, with slightly bitter tannins. Almost too concentrated. This will require another look next year.