Belair Monange 2019

St Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classé B

Units	Size	Case size	GBP Price:	Quantities	Buy
12	75cl Bottle	Case 6	£630 per Case	Cases	[Add to shopping basket]

Tasting Notes
The 2019 Bélair-Monange has a more tertiary nose, backward and broody, almost Left Bank in style. This demands much more coaxing from the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a slightly chocolaty opening. The oak a little too thick maybe? Plenty of fruit behind it, quite plush on the finish, but missing the intellect that previous bottles have displayed. Maybe entering an awkward adolescence? Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting. Score: 94 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2045 01 February 2023
The 2019 Bélair-Monange shows wonderful delineation and focus on the nose, which presents a cornucopia of red fruit, crushed stone, wilted rose petal and light black truffle aromas. It seems to gain complexity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, fine delineation and a velvety texture. This builds toward a lavish finish, with dark chocolate and cocoa notes lingering on the aftertaste. It will need several years in bottle but should repay those with the wherewithal to cellar. Score: 97 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026 - 2050 01 February 2022
The 2019 Bélair-Monange, currently undergoing extensive renovation, was picked from 19 September to 3 October and matured in 50% new oak. It certainly leans upon red fruit on the nose with vivacious wild strawberry, cranberry and Morello scents, wonderful mineralité emerging with aeration. This really repays patience. Monitoring it over an hour it uncovers more black fruit - keeps you on your toes. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins and a sensual silky texture that belies the sheer depth of this Saint-Émilion. It fans out with abandon on the finish - just an outstanding wine that will offer drinkers many years of pleasure. Score: 96 - 98 Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2024 - 2055 01 June 2020
The flagship 2019 Château Belair-Monange checks in as 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc from 25-year-old vines and raised in 50% new French oak. It's a magical wine in the vintage and offers more depth and richness than just about every other Saint-Emilion out there, all while holding onto a gorgeous sense of finesse and elegance, which would almost have me guessing Pomerol in a blind tasting. Deep red and black fruits, truffly earth, tobacco, and spring flower notes all emerge on the nose, and this puppy is full-bodied, has a layered, seamless mouthfeel, gorgeous tannins, and one heck of a great finish. It's stunning, and while it offers incredible pleasure today given its purity and flawless balance, it deserves 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 30 years or more. Score: 98 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2029-2060 11 April 2022
The 2019 Belair-Monange is beautiful and reminds me slightly of the 2016 with its fresh yet concentrated style. Offering lots of black fruits, scorched earth, truffle, lead pencil, and a liquid rock-like minerality, this full-bodied beauty has a solid spine of acidity, beautiful balance, and enough building tannins to warrant a solid 5-7 years of bottle age. Score: 96 - 98 Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com 30 June 2020
Like Trotanoy, though of course not to the same extent, the 2019 Belair Monange is another of the richer, more powerful wines in the Mouiex portfolio this year. Offering up aromas of sweet cherries, wild berries, vanilla pod, plum preserve, warm spices and cedary new oak, it's full-bodied, broad and muscular, with a deep and layered core of ripe, sun-kissed fruit that's framed by lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins. Score: 95 William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2027 - 2057 07 April 2022
The 2019 Bélair-Monange opens with an attractive burst of fruit. Some of that initial intensity tapers off rather quickly, leaving the 2019 feeling a bit one-dimensional. This showed much better from barrel. The jury is still out for me on Bélair-Monange. I don't see the same quality as is found in neighboring estates nor in the other top properties in the Moueix family's stable of châteaux. I admit I expected a bit more here. Score: 94 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2029 - 2049 01 February 2022
The 2019 Bélair-Monange is classy, polished and elegant. In recent years Bélair-Monange has come across as a bit pushed in terms of ripeness, but the 2019 impresses with its sublime balance. Silky, racy and inviting, Bélair-Monange has so much to offer. It is wine that makes its case with finesse more than power. Christian Moueix chuckles that thirty years ago he was criticized for picking too early, but today it is the exact opposite. Score: 95 - 97 Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 June 2020
Such a lesson in limestone terroir with its precision, knife-spliced and restrained violet flowers, raspberry and redcurrant fruits. You need to chisel through the austerity to get to the creamy, fleshy side of these fruits but it is very definitely there. So good, enjoy, take your time, give 6 to 8 years to fully let that creamy raspberry puree and deeper black cherry side come out to join saffron, sage and slate minerality. Love it. Harvest September 19 to October 3. 50% new oak. Score: 97 Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2029-2048 26 January 2022
Austerity is high as the limestone shines through, with controlled black and blue berry fruits rippling through the palate. There are extremely delicate redcurrant and violet floral edges that come through and cling on, just opening up after a good five minutes in the glass. A little less generous than the 2018, as is often the case in the 2019 vintage, but one with concentration and precision, and that will give pleasure for decades. Takes time to open and will take time to fully express its potential in the bottle. 50% new oak. Score: 97 Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2027 - 2044 12 May 2020
Wonderful aromas of fresh flowers, blackberries and cherries. Licorice and lilacs, too. Full-bodied, yet so tight and refined, translucent and weightless. Incredible purity and excellence. This is the heart and soul of the property in a glass. Really pinpointed at the end. Enchanting and thought-provoking. Needs time to open and soften. Try after 2028. Score: 99 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2028+ 17 January 2022
Tight and minerally with tar, currant, and wet-earth aromas and flavors. Medium-to full-bodied. Some salt and white pepper to the black fruit. Black olives, too. Score: 96 - 97 James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 03 June 2020
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Belair Monange comes sashaying out of the glass with a graceful hair-toss of fragrant red roses, cinnamon stick, cardamom and cumin seed notes over a core of Morello cherries, dark chocolate, wild blueberries and blackberry pie plus a touch of pencil shavings. The medium to full-bodied palate is just scrumptious, offering layers of perfumed black fruits and bright floral sparks, framed by exquisitely ripe, satiny tannins and an invigorating line of freshness, finishing on a lingering aniseed note. Score: 96 - 98 Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 18 June 2020

Tasting Notes

The 2019 Bélair-Monange has a more tertiary nose, backward and broody, almost Left Bank in style. This demands much more coaxing from the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a slightly chocolaty opening. The oak a little too thick maybe? Plenty of fruit behind it, quite plush on the finish, but missing the intellect that previous bottles have displayed. Maybe entering an awkward adolescence? Tasted blind at the Southwold annual tasting.

Score: 94

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2025-2045 01 February 2023

The 2019 Bélair-Monange shows wonderful delineation and focus on the nose, which presents a cornucopia of red fruit, crushed stone, wilted rose petal and light black truffle aromas. It seems to gain complexity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red berry fruit, fine delineation and a velvety texture. This builds toward a lavish finish, with dark chocolate and cocoa notes lingering on the aftertaste. It will need several years in bottle but should repay those with the wherewithal to cellar.

Score: 97

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2026 - 2050 01 February 2022

The 2019 Bélair-Monange, currently undergoing extensive renovation, was picked from 19 September to 3 October and matured in 50% new oak. It certainly leans upon red fruit on the nose with vivacious wild strawberry, cranberry and Morello scents, wonderful mineralité emerging with aeration. This really repays patience. Monitoring it over an hour it uncovers more black fruit - keeps you on your toes. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins and a sensual silky texture that belies the sheer depth of this Saint-Émilion. It fans out with abandon on the finish - just an outstanding wine that will offer drinkers many years of pleasure.

Score: 96 - 98

Neal Martin, Vinous.com Maturity: 2024 - 2055 01 June 2020

The flagship 2019 Château Belair-Monange checks in as 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc from 25-year-old vines and raised in 50% new French oak. It's a magical wine in the vintage and offers more depth and richness than just about every other Saint-Emilion out there, all while holding onto a gorgeous sense of finesse and elegance, which would almost have me guessing Pomerol in a blind tasting. Deep red and black fruits, truffly earth, tobacco, and spring flower notes all emerge on the nose, and this puppy is full-bodied, has a layered, seamless mouthfeel, gorgeous tannins, and one heck of a great finish. It's stunning, and while it offers incredible pleasure today given its purity and flawless balance, it deserves 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 30 years or more.

Score: 98

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com Maturity: 2029-2060 11 April 2022

The 2019 Belair-Monange is beautiful and reminds me slightly of the 2016 with its fresh yet concentrated style. Offering lots of black fruits, scorched earth, truffle, lead pencil, and a liquid rock-like minerality, this full-bodied beauty has a solid spine of acidity, beautiful balance, and enough building tannins to warrant a solid 5-7 years of bottle age.

Score: 96 - 98

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com 30 June 2020

Like Trotanoy, though of course not to the same extent, the 2019 Belair Monange is another of the richer, more powerful wines in the Mouiex portfolio this year. Offering up aromas of sweet cherries, wild berries, vanilla pod, plum preserve, warm spices and cedary new oak, it's full-bodied, broad and muscular, with a deep and layered core of ripe, sun-kissed fruit that's framed by lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins.

Score: 95

William Kelley, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2027 - 2057 07 April 2022

The 2019 Bélair-Monange opens with an attractive burst of fruit. Some of that initial intensity tapers off rather quickly, leaving the 2019 feeling a bit one-dimensional. This showed much better from barrel. The jury is still out for me on Bélair-Monange. I don't see the same quality as is found in neighboring estates nor in the other top properties in the Moueix family's stable of châteaux. I admit I expected a bit more here.

Score: 94

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com Maturity: 2029 - 2049 01 February 2022

The 2019 Bélair-Monange is classy, polished and elegant. In recent years Bélair-Monange has come across as a bit pushed in terms of ripeness, but the 2019 impresses with its sublime balance. Silky, racy and inviting, Bélair-Monange has so much to offer. It is wine that makes its case with finesse more than power. Christian Moueix chuckles that thirty years ago he was criticized for picking too early, but today it is the exact opposite.

Score: 95 - 97

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com 01 June 2020

Such a lesson in limestone terroir with its precision, knife-spliced and restrained violet flowers, raspberry and redcurrant fruits. You need to chisel through the austerity to get to the creamy, fleshy side of these fruits but it is very definitely there. So good, enjoy, take your time, give 6 to 8 years to fully let that creamy raspberry puree and deeper black cherry side come out to join saffron, sage and slate minerality. Love it. Harvest September 19 to October 3. 50% new oak.

Score: 97

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux Maturity: 2029-2048 26 January 2022

Austerity is high as the limestone shines through, with controlled black and blue berry fruits rippling through the palate. There are extremely delicate redcurrant and violet floral edges that come through and cling on, just opening up after a good five minutes in the glass. A little less generous than the 2018, as is often the case in the 2019 vintage, but one with concentration and precision, and that will give pleasure for decades. Takes time to open and will take time to fully express its potential in the bottle. 50% new oak.

Score: 97

Jane Anson, Decanter.com Maturity: 2027 - 2044 12 May 2020

Wonderful aromas of fresh flowers, blackberries and cherries. Licorice and lilacs, too. Full-bodied, yet so tight and refined, translucent and weightless. Incredible purity and excellence. This is the heart and soul of the property in a glass. Really pinpointed at the end. Enchanting and thought-provoking. Needs time to open and soften. Try after 2028.

Score: 99

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com Maturity: 2028+ 17 January 2022

Tight and minerally with tar, currant, and wet-earth aromas and flavors. Medium-to full-bodied. Some salt and white pepper to the black fruit. Black olives, too.

Score: 96 - 97

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com 03 June 2020

Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Belair Monange comes sashaying out of the glass with a graceful hair-toss of fragrant red roses, cinnamon stick, cardamom and cumin seed notes over a core of Morello cherries, dark chocolate, wild blueberries and blackberry pie plus a touch of pencil shavings. The medium to full-bodied palate is just scrumptious, offering layers of perfumed black fruits and bright floral sparks, framed by exquisitely ripe, satiny tannins and an invigorating line of freshness, finishing on a lingering aniseed note.

Score: 96 - 98

Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com 18 June 2020

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