Winemaker Notes
Lovely deep, concentrated appearance to this rich and complex wine. Elegant on the nose, where intense, dark berry fruit aromas intermingle with spice and licorice. Initially delicate on the palate, gaining rapidly in intensity to reveal rich and flavorsome mouthfeel, underpinned by fine-grained, silky tannins. The wine culminates in a long, lingering and racy finish, defined by freshness and spice.
Blend: 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A dense and layered red with wet earth and blue fruits. Sweet tobacco, too. Soft tannins give this full-bodied wine a juicy richness and decadence. Plump mouthfeel.
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Wine Enthusiast
Still firm and structured, this wine is dark and solid while still having a line of freshness and good acidity. Juicy black currants and elegant tannins are still developing, giving the possibility of a rich, generous wine from 2023.
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Decanter
Smoky, brambly undergrowth is the dominant impression here, a lovely autumnal feeling. It is a well made wine with clear grip on the attack, but is lacking a little pep towards the finish where the tannins get just a touch dry - give it a few years to allow them to soften. This was the first year that Belgrave used an optical sorting machine.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Belgrave has a nose of crushed black currant, chocolate-covered cherries, warm plums and lilacs with touches of garrigue and forest floor. Medium to full-bodied with firm, ripe, grainy tannins and wonderfully pure black fruits with lovely floral accents, it finishes long and perfumed.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
One of the most—if not the most—famous red wine regions of the world, the Medoc reaches from the city of Bordeaux northwest along the left bank of the Gironde River almost all the way to the Atlantic. Its vineyards climb along a band of flatlands, sandwiched between the coastal river marshes and the pine forests in the west. The entire region can only claim to be three to eight miles wide (at its widest), but it is about 50 miles long.
While the Medoc encompasses the Haut Medoc, and thus most of the classed-growth villages (Margaux, Moulis, Listrac, St-Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe) it is really only those wines produced in the Bas-Medoc that use the Medoc appellation name. The ones farther down the river, and on marginally higher ground, are eligible to claim the Haut Medoc appellation, or their village or cru status.
While the region can’t boast a particularly dramatic landscape, impressive chateaux disperse themselves among the magically well-drained gravel soils that define the area. This optimal soil draining capacity is completely necessary and ideal in the Medoc's damp, maritime climate. These gravels also serve well to store heat in cooler years.