2016 Belair-Monange
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2016 Bélair-Monange has a very refined and precise bouquet: red berry fruit, red brick and light rose petal scents. Limestone terroir? The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, edgy and, whilst not powerful, there is impressive articulation of where it comes from. Give this more time. Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Wine Spectator
More reviews and scores
Slate and pumice stone, crushed rose petals and juicy black cherry, this is exceptional, just a delicious vintage where the new vineyard configuration of Bélair-Monange was starting to come into its own. Look out for this wine - definitely entering its drinking window but with decades ahead.
This was not tasted during the Connoisseur Week, but is a request from a subscriber, so I am adding in at the same time from opening a bottle that I have at home. It's an exceptional wine, still a little austere at this point, with everything in place to deliver joy over the next two to three decades. The salt twist of the limestone-dominant soils is on full display, alongside crushed raspberries and blackberries, cocoa bean, liqourice root, chamomile flowers and pomegranate, opening to show creamy cappuccino. This was the point that everything was starting to come together for Belair-Monange under the Moueix ownership.
90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Cassis, ripe and rounded with soft tannins and balanced acidity. All very soft-edged and round. Lengthy liquorice and leather notes on the finish. Satisfying and classic, with well-made, concentrated fruit. Perhaps just a bit straightforward? Very drinkable now, and perhaps will gain complexity in future? (RH)
About the producer
Château Bélair-Monange sits at the highest point of Saint-Émilion neighbouring Château Ausone. The steep slope vineyards offers some of the most beautiful vistas overlooking the historic town of Saint-Émilion.