Winemaker Notes
Blend: 72% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Precise and minerally on the nose, with fresh, chalky red berries and hints of tobacco and fine herbs. Tense and al dente on the palate, with fine, silky tannins, transparency and texture. There is initial balance to it that makes it attractive now, but it will age well, too. This is one of the best from the estate. 72% merlot, 18% cabernet franc and 10% cabernet sauvignon. From organically grown grapes.
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Decanter
Wonderful wet stone freshness and vividly floral. Tasted twice, with one sample showing especially savoury aspects but both with polished tannin and impressive structure from the ripe Cabernet Sauvignons, especially. Crafted from grapes picked between 19 September and 5 October, this wine shows superb lift on the long finish, with salinity and freshness, and a hint of fine chocolate leaves the impression of 'contained opulence'. Ageing in 30% new oak, the pH is 3.56.
Barrel Sample: 95 -
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2023 Château Bellefont-Belcier comes from a brilliant terroir just beside Larcis Ducasse and Pavie (as well as Troplong Mondot and Tertre Roteboeuf). Based on 72% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and brought up 15 months in 30% new French oak, 30% ovoid wooden vats, and 40% in used barrels, it sports a dense purple hue as well as awesome aromatics of black cherries, graphite, roasted herbs, and chocolate. It picks up more floral notes with air and is medium to full-bodied, pure, graceful, and beautifully balanced, with a ripe, seamless mouthfeel. It's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and pretty much knock your socks off over the following two decades.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Bellefont Belcier demonstrates this property's continuing renaissance, exhibiting more density and seriousness as the team starts to get the best out of their holdings on the plateau of Saint-Émilion overlooking the slopes that surround the château. Offering up aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with hints of burning embers and iris, it's medium to full-bodied, supple and fleshy, with a layered core of fruit, powdery structuring tannins and a long, penetrating finish.
Barrel Sample: 93-95 -
Wine Spectator
The 2023 Bellefont Belcier has turned out as beautifully as anticipated, unfurling in the glass with aromas of dark wild berries, spices, iris and violet. Medium- to full-bodied, layered and finely textured, it is animated by lively acidity and concludes with a long, penetrating finish. Over the past few years, this estate has entered a particularly compelling aesthetic phase, demonstrating how sustained attention to detail in both vineyard and cellar can translate into wines of greater precision and purity. Rating: 95+
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Vinous
The 2023 Bellefont-Belcier is dark, pliant and super-expressive. This heady, explosive wine is packed with dark fruit, gravel, incense and licorice. Pencil shavings, lavender and chocolate linger on the potent, resonant finish. Interestingly, Bellefont-Belcier was once quite opulent. Consulting winemaker Thomas Duclos dialed it back starting with the 2018 vintage but now seems to be searching for more of a middle ground. Tasted three times.–Antonio Galloni
Barrel Sample: 92-94
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.
Marked by its historic fortified village—perhaps the prettiest in all of Bordeaux, the St-Émilion appellation, along with its neighboring village of Pomerol, are leaders in quality on the Right Bank of Bordeaux. These Merlot-dominant red wines (complemented by various amounts of Cabernet Franc and/or Cabernet Sauvignon) remain some of the most admired and collected wines of the world.
St-Émilion has the longest history in wine production in Bordeaux—longer than the Left Bank—dating back to an 8th century monk named Saint Émilion who became a hermit in one of the many limestone caves scattered throughout the area.
Today St-Émilion is made up of hundreds of independent farmers dedicated to the same thing: growing Merlot and Cabernet Franc (and tiny amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon). While always roughly the same blend, the wines of St-Émilion vary considerably depending on the soil upon which they are grown—and the soils do vary considerably throughout the region.
The chateaux with the highest classification (Premier Grand Cru Classés) are on gravel-rich soils or steep, clay-limestone hillsides. There are only four given the highest rank, called Premier Grand Cru Classés A (Chateau Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Angélus, Pavie) and 14 are Premier Grand Cru Classés B. Much of the rest of the vineyards in the appellation are on flatter land where the soils are a mix of gravel, sand and alluvial matter.
Great wines from St-Émilion will be deep in color, and might have characteristics of blackberry liqueur, black raspberry, licorice, chocolate, grilled meat, earth or truffles. They will be bold, layered and lush.