Winemaker Notes
Blend: 90% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Amazing dark-berry and black-cherry aromas with hints of black truffles and oyster shell. Full-bodied, super layered and rich with amazing density and texture. Like the richest velvet. Last for minutes. Drink in 2024.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Bellevue Mondotte showed spectacularly well from barrel and is now even better from bottle. One of the most impressive, sexy, opulent wines in the vintage, it boasts a saturated purple color as well as heavenly notes of crème de cassis, blackcurrants, smoked earth and chocolate. The quintessential Saint Emilion, with almost overflow fruit, full body, and a powerful, concentrated style, give bottles a handful of years in the cellar and drink it over the following 2-3 decades.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A neighbor of Pavie Decesse, this vintage is composed of 90% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon aged in 100% new French oak. Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 Bellevue Mondotte is a little youthfully closed, revealing subtle suggestions of plum preserves, blackberry pie and cherry compote plus an undercurrent of violets, mocha and black soil. The full-bodied palate is firm and rugged, packed with taut, muscular fruit and finishes long and earthy. Give it a good 5 years in bottle, at least, and drink it over the next 25+.
Rating: 94+ -
Wine Enthusiast
This powerful wine is big, bold and rich. It has serious tannins along with superripe Merlot. The acidity and the berry flavors are almost buried in the structure. It will develop into a rich, balanced and dense wine. Drink from 2026.
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Wine Spectator
A rich and concentrated style, with a mocha and ganache frame that melds slowly but steadily into the core of steeped plum and black currant paste flavors. A loamy hint gives the fruit-laden finish spine, while the ganache edge keeps pace as well. For fans of the style. Best from 2020 through 2030.
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Decanter
A Gérard Perse (Pavie) property. Only 2ha. Dense, sweet and powerful. Tight and firm on the finish. Minerality shows. One for the cellar.
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.