2016 Chateau Belair Monange - St. Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe

Decanter.com – 97 pts – GH, VA, AC: *JP Moueix bought this 26ha estate next to Château Ausone in 2008. The château was previously known as Bélair, and Christian Moueix added Monange – his grandmother’s maiden name – to pay tribute to the family’s roots in St-Emilion. In 2016 the blend was 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc, aged in 50% new oak. Georgie Hindle: Expressive nose of dark chocolate and coffee beans. Vibrancy, dark fruit – serious and sultry, but has excellent acidity that gives a thrilling edge to the fruit. Vincenzo Arnese: Elegant nose, perfume, power and depth. Figs and ripe blackcurrant, dark cherry, great intensity and richness. Integrated tannins are so smooth. Divine. Arthur Coggill: Plum tomato leaf aromas, clove spice and delicate cedar, understated. Soft and silky, oaky with rich, plentiful black cherry and woody mocha.* - 03/2023

Falstaff Magazin - 96pts - PM: *Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung, mit einem Hauch von Orangen unterlegte reife Herzkirschenfrucht, dezenter Nougat, reife Pflaumen im Hintergrund. Saftig, eher mittlere Komplexität, elegant und ausgewogen, gut integrierte Tannine, verfügt über gute Frische, zart schokoladiger Touch im Abgang, ein charmanter Speisenbegleiter mit gutem Reifepotenzial, reife Kirschen im Abgang.* - 05/2017

05/19: *Dicht, von ausgesprochener Mineralität, mit feinkörnigem Tannin bei grosser Länge, wird zu einem besonders eleganten, raffinierten Wein heranreifen* (19/20)

Weinwisser - 18/20pts - GL: *92 % Merlot und 8 % Cabernet Franc, 23,5 ha. Tiefes Granat mit violettem Rand. Intensive Nase nach frisch gemahlenem schwarzem Pfeffer, dahinter dunkle Oliven und rote Kirschen. Am stoffig-kräftigen Gaumen mit viel rotbeeriger Frucht und Wachsnoten; ein eleganter, geradliniger Bélair-Monange, der mit dem Jahrgang geht und durch Finesse überzeugt.*

JancisRobinson.com - 16.5+/20pts - RH: *90% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Cassis, ripe and rounded with soft tannins and balanced acidity. All very soft-edged and round. Lengthy liquorice and leather notes on the finish. Satisfying and classic, with well-made, concentrated fruit. Perhaps just a bit straightforward? Very drinkable now, and perhaps will gain complexity in future?* - 11/2020

JamesSuckling.com - (95-96)pts - JS: *A very dense and pretty center palate of dried fruit, spices and dried tobacco. Medium to full body, chewy tannins and a savory finish. Linear and racy. Tight and reserved now but wait to see the structure develop fabulously.* - 04/2017
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JamesSuckling.com – 99 pts – JS: * Incredibly perfumed aromas of roses and violets, as well as blue fruit and lavender. Full-bodied and powerful, yet so full of finesse and vibrance. The height of elegance! Such depth of chalk and dark berries. It goes on for minutes. Drink after 2025.* - 12/2019

Vinous.com - (92-95)pts - AG: *The 2016 Bélair-Monange is silky, bright and polished, with plenty of floral notes wrapped around a core of expressive red-toned fruit. In 2016, the wine is quite delicate and restrained, with perhaps a bit less depth than in its very best recent vintages.* - 04/2017
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Vinous.com – 94 pts - AG: *The 2016 Bélair-Monange is exotically ripe and flashy. Bright red and purplish fruit is pushed forward in a primary, intense wine with plenty of immediacy. As good as the 2016 is, what I don't see are the layers of depth and structure that have made the finest recent vintages so compelling. Even so, the 2016 is a very pretty and compelling wine, it just falls a bit short relative to some of the other wines that have been made here.* Januar 2019

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - (94-96)pts - NM: *The 2016 Belair-Monange, the home of Edouard Moueix and his family, is a blend of 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. It has a tightly wound bouquet with red and black fruit, touches of cedar and smoke developing in the glass, reticent at first but unfolding nicely in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannin, a more structured and rigid Belair-Monange compared to recent vintages, adorned with fine salinity on the finish. It will require several years in bottle to show its best, but it will be worth waiting for.* - 04/2017
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Vinous.com - 97pts - NM: *The 2016 Bélair-Monange is easily the most closed of all of J-P Moueix’s wines when I taste them together. It is stubbornly tight in the glass and then coquettishly unfurls mineral-rich red berry fruit mixed with rose petals; the perfume is captivating. The palate is well balanced, with velvety tannin and perfectly judged acidity, and very, very harmonious. More and more black fruit seems to join the chorus line toward the finish, which fans out gloriously, demonstrating superlative persistence. The best Bélair-Monange to date, and an accomplished, riveting Saint-Émilion.* - 01/2019