2019 Bellefont Belcier
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Tasting notes
Great focused, brooding nose – dark savoury spice mixes with brighter ginger and clove, dark chocolate, earthy minerality. Supple texture from fully resolved tannins with fresh delineated fruit (fresh blackberry), The tannins create freshness and direction on the palate. It’s a subtle, really well-constructed framework. I love the restraint of this wine. The limestone (even pencil-lead/ graphite) minerality comes through on the mouthwatering finish. Excellent.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Decanter
More reviews and scores
Excellent vibrancy here, with just a bit more mid-palate density than in 2018. Exciting tension, power and ripe red fruit leading to a salivating and long finish. Although young, try with garlic-infused, roasted leg of lamb.
The 2019 Bellefont Belcier is delineated and focused on the nose with pure blackberry, briary, crushed stone and cedar scents, the oak here nicely integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, cohesive and smooth, blackberry and white pepper tinged with cedar towards the finish. This sashays alang in style, and it is very promising. Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.
A beautiful, elegant Saint-Emilion that will be loved by both modernists and traditionalists out there, the 2019 Château Bellefont-Belcier comes from a south-facing, limestone terroir just beside Château Pavie and Larcis Ducasse. A blend of 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, it starts out reticent and understated yet builds beautifully with time in the glass and has wonderful cassis and black raspberry fruits intermixed with notes of truffle, tobacco, damp earth, and violets. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has silky tannins, perfect overall balance, and a great finish. It's not a powerhouse, but it shines for its purity, finesse, and elegance. Drink bottles over the coming 15-20 years or so.
About the producer
The history of the estate dates back to the 17th century, but the estate acquired its current name from Count Louis-Francois de Belcier who took ownership of the property at the end of the 18th century.