2023 Belair Monange

Ripe red and black fruits, chocolaty minerality, graphite, and spring flowers all emerge from the 2023 Château Bélair-Monange, a brilliant Saint-Emilion that delivers the goods. Coming from a mix of the upper plateau and the hillside just outside the village, it's 100% Merlot aged 16-18 months in 50% new French oak. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has a layered, oh, so polished, graceful mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It has absolute classic Saint-Emilion limestone-driven minerality, and I'd be thrilled to drink a bottle today given its balance, purity, and elegance, yet it deserves 5-7 years of bottle age and will see its 30th (probably 40th) birthday in fine form. It reminds me slightly of an improved 2012. Drink 2031-2063.

The 2023 Bélair-Monange is an elegant, sophisticated wine. Silky tannins and lifted aromatics convey the essence of finesse. Sweet floral notes open first. On the palate, the 2023 is remarkably polished for such a young wine. Then again, we are on Saint-Émilion's famed limestone plateau, where wines are born with refinement.

The 2023 Bélair-Monange is another addition to the canon of great wines in recent years from this estate. Now in bottle, it has a fragrant and generous bouquet, beautifully defined, a mélange of red and black fruit, forest floor, shavings of black truffle and light tobacco scents. It is actually a bit Pomerol in style. The palate is medium-bodied with chiseled tannins matched by a perfect line of acidity. Silky smooth in texture that disguises the backbone of this Saint-Émilion, it forms a very complete wine that will surely age with style. Highly recommended.