Winemaker Notes
Blend: 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
There's a huge amount in here. It's dense, alluring and complex, with a mouth-filling palate of rich fruits and dark spices. Generous and exciting.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Château Belle-Vue is one awesome Haut-Médoc as well as an incredible value. Deeply colored, with a powerful bouquet of crème de cassis, black cherries, leafy herbs, and earth, it’s medium to full-bodied, has ultra-fine tannins and fabulous balance. A blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 20% Petit Verdot, aged in 30% new French oak, it’s almost too good to be true and should be snatched up by readers.
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James Suckling
Thanks to its fragrance and discreet succulence, this tastes like a very good Margaux. That should be no surprise, because Belle-Vue’s vineyards lie immediately south of that appellation. Long and elegant finish. A blend of 45 per cent cabernet sauvignon, 35 per cent merlot and 20 per cent petit verdot. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine has a rich, generous character that gives it a full, dense texture. It has spice, ripe tannins and opulent blackberry tones.
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Wine Spectator
Dark and winey, showing a core of steeped currant and blackberry fruit infused with ganache and smoldering tobacco notes. Solid juicy energy through the finish. Drink now through 2029. 9,778 cases made.
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.
While it claims the same basic landscape as the Medoc—only every so slightly elevated above river level—the Haut Medoc is home to all of the magnificent chateaux of the Left Bank of Bordeaux, creating no lack of beautiful sites to see.
These chateaux, residing over the classed-growth cru in the villages of Margaux, Moulis, Listrac, St-Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe are within the Haut Medoc appellation. Though within the confines of these villages, any classed-growth chateaux will most certainly claim village or cru status on their wine labels.
Interestingly, some classed-growth cru of the Haut Medoc fall outside of these more famous villages and can certainly be a source of some of the best values in Bordeaux. Deep in color, and concentrated in ripe fruit and tannins, these wines (typically Cabernet Sauvignon-based) often prove the same aging potential of the village classed-growths. Among these, the highest ranked chateaux are Chateau La Lagune and Chateau Cantemerle.