Wine

The 2009 Chateau Belair Monange wine is an extraordinary terroir, now exploited by Edouard Moueix, the son of Christian, seems to be coming to life in a dramatic fashion. Never a hedonistic wine, but very intellectual, the 2009 Chateau Belair Monange wine suggests a liqueur of crushed rocks intermixed with black currants and black cherries. Still somewhat closed, medium to full-bodied, and impressive rather than seductive, this is a structured wine that needs to be forgotten for at least a decade, and then drunk over the following 30+ years. If readers are looking for the quintessential example of a terroir-dominated wine, this is Lesson 101 in terroir.

The 2018 Chateau Belgrave wine is enjoyable depth and power. This Chateau Belgrave wine has walls of spice and smoke set against powerful cassis and bilberry, and plenty of Haut-Médoc signature. It’s medium-bodied and has a soft, supple texture, ripe tannins, and a great finish. Yet another great 2018 vintage well underway at Chateau Belgrave.

Significant part in the success has oenologist Michel Rolland. Chateau Belgrave is a bargain among Grand Cru Classé today. The wine produced here was classified as one of eighteen Cinquièmes Crus, Fifth Growths in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. The Chateau Belgrave is a winery in the Haut-Médoc appellation of the Bordeaux region of France.

93 points Decanter
93 points James Suckling
93 points Wine Enthusiast

The 2015 Chateau Bernateau wine has aromas of fresh raspberries, plum and blackberries on the nose. This Chateau Bernateau wine is beautiful full fruit, but approachable multi-layered texture and taste on the palate. This Saint-Emilion wine has a smooth and silky finish. On the palate this is full-bodied and beautifully polished with excellent depth and concentration. The Bernateau wine possesses an opulent core or ripe dark fruits which is lifted by a lovely underlying acidity, that drives it into the finish. The 2015 Chateau Bernateau is a total success in this 2015 vintage.

This 2015 Chateau Bernateau wine is an extremely well balanced red Bordeaux blend with Merlot 70%, Cab Franc 25% and Petit Verdot 5%.

The 2017 Chateau Beychevelle is another beautiful wine from this estate, which is being run with incredible talent and passion by Romain Ducolomb, who was hired away from Chateau Clinet. This St-Julien wine is lively, elegant notes of green tobacco, lead pencil, flowers, mint, and blueberries all emerge from the glass, and it’s medium to full-bodied, with a classic, elegant texture, ripe tannins, and a great finish. This 2017 Chateau Beychevelle is up with the top wines in the vintage and will evolve for 2+ decades.

The 2017 Chateau Beychevelle wine is based on 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, and the rest Cabernet Franc a selection of just 52% of the production and spent 18 months in 60% new French oak.

95 points Wine Enthusiast
94 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
93 points James Suckling

The Chateau Bonnet Blanc, AOC Entre-Deux-Mers wine has a very pale straw-yellow colour shot through with green highlights. The intensity of the nose follows through to the round, generous palate, indicative of perfectly ripe grapes. This Chateau Bonnet Blanc wine starts out instantly appealing on the palate, becoming fresh, wonderfully rich and delicious, laced with slightly acidic citrus flavors.

Very Sauvignon, this wine of André Lurton at an affordable price, is an example of “everyday wine”: succulent aromas of pear and tropical fruit, nervous and expressive on the palate, clean finish and well-defined

This 2022 Chateau Bonnet Blanc, AOC Entre-Deux-Mers wine goes beautifully with marinated prawns, oysters, or even mussels.

Awards:
2016 Vintage: Bronze – Decanter World Wine Awards
2015 Vintage: Bronze – The TEXSOM International Wine Awards
2014 Vintage: Cité – Le Guide Hachette des Vins

The Chateau Bonnet Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva is a Bordeaux red comes in a rather dark and intense red color, still featuring some clear purple hues and therefore looking quite youthful despite its 5+ years of age. Touches of orange hues to the core do intensify its dark appearance. The nose also feels deep and serious, packed-full of dark cocoa, vanilla and dark caramel notes. Although, a sense of light-hearted liveliness also comes through in the shape of vibrant ripe cherry and blackcurrant aromas, lifted and spiced up by scents of white and black pepper. Add some elegant leathery tones for a complete picture of the aromatic profile.

This 2018 Chateau Bonnet Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva is a blend of 59% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 1% Cabernet Franc, fermented in stainless-steel tanks with patented cap-breaking system then aged for 12 months in oak barrels (20% new).

The 2015 Chateau Bourgneuf wine is a plump, juicy Pomerol that will drink well upon release. This Chateau Bourgneuf wine is maintaining the success that this estate showed en primeur, and reflecting the positive changes made at the property under a new generation led by Frederic Vayron.

This 2015 Pomerol wine is featuring a medium garnet purple color and aromas of smoked meats, black truffles, tapenade and charcoal with a fruity core of black and red cherries, plum preserves and blueberry coulis plus a waft of aniseed. This Bordeaux wine is medium to full-bodied, delicately structured and with lively fruit expression. This 2015 Bourgneuf wine finishes on an earthy note.

The 2015 Chateau Bourgneuf wine is composed of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc.

95 points James Suckling
93 points Decanter
92 points Wine Spectator

The 2014 Chateau Branaire Ducru wine is soft, polished and super-inviting. This 2014 Branaire Ducru offers a mixture of red and black fruit on the nose, suffused with tobacco and pleasant undergrowth aromas, perhaps just missing the precision of the Beychevelle at the moment. The palate is supple on the entry with a slightly grainy texture, the acidity well judged, a little edginess towards the finish that just needs to must more depth, more drive. The 2014 Chateau Branaire Ducru wine should drink well with minimal cellaring. Today, it is among the most accessible of the Saint-Julien’s.

The 2014 Chateau Branaire Ducru wine is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc picked between 24 September with the early-ripening Merlot, and finishing on 11 October.

94 points Wine Enthusiast
93 points James Suckling
93 points Wine Spectator

The 2019 Chateau Brane de Cantenac wine is one of the standout Margaux. This 2019 Chateau Brane Cantenac shows more elegance and finesse in its tannins and structure than most. Giving up a beautifully complex nose of cassis and black raspberry fruits as well as cedary spice and spring flowers, it’s medium to full-bodied on the palate, has a seamless mouthfeel, beautiful purity and precision, and a great finish.

This 2019 Chateau Brane de Cantenac wine is a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 26% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 1% Carmenère, 1% Petit Verdot.

This 2019 Chateau Brane de Cantenac wine is best served with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised and grilled dishes. At the same time this Red wine is a perfect match with Asian dishes, hearty fish courses like tuna, salmon, mushrooms and pasta as well as cheese.

97 points Wine Advocate
97 points Vinous
96 points Decanter

The 2014 Chateau Calon Segur is a real show-stopper wine. This Chateau Calon Segur is a powerful and seductive, the wine exudes class. Myriad shades of plum, sweet red cherry, pomegranate, spice and blood orange are all on display. Wild flowers, tobacco and host of more aromatic notes develop in the glass. A truly St-Estèphe wine.

This is yet another fabulous showing for the 2014 Calon Segur, a wine that vies for top honors in this vintage. The blend is 67 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 19 % Merlot, 15 % Cabernet Franc and 2 % Petit Verdot.

96 points James Suckling
96 points Vinous
95 points Wine Enthusiast

The 2014 Chateau Canon wine has a very well defined and has a precise bouquet with ebullient raspberry and wild strawberry scents infused with minerals. This St-Emilion wine has aromatics which are utterly captivating. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin and very well-judged acidity. There is tension and poise to this Saint Emilion wine, gently fanning out with a delicate spicy finish that lingers long in the mouth.

Though surely destined to be over-shadowed by the extraordinary 2015, this Canon wine deserves a berth in your cellar. This 2014 Chateau Canon is outstanding for the vintage, a sublime wine that might dare rank alongside the 2009 and 2010.

The 2014 Chateau Canon wine is a blend of 72% Merlot and 28% Cabernet Franc, the estate moving towards the latter in terms of its new plantings, which will possibly see 40% in 15 or 20 years time. It was picked from 22 September until 6 October for the Merlot and three days later for the Cabernet Franc, matured in around 80% new oak. Drink date 2020 – 2050.

96 points James Suckling
95 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
93 points Wine Spectator

The 2018 Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere wine is bright, punchy and full of character, just as it was from barrel. This 2018 Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere wine has a fantastic depth and richness to the nose with plums, mushrooms, bark and some mahogany. The red wine has a full-bodied, tight and focused with very fine tannins and a long, creamy finish. Sage, blood orange, mocha and spice add pretty aromatic top notes to a core of inky red purplish berry fruit. This 2018 Chateau Canon La Gaffelière wine has all the elements are so well balanced in this super-expressive Saint-Émilion. Bright floral and savory Franc notes punctuate the salivating finish, mineral-drenched finish.

Another beautiful vintage for this cuvée, the 2018 Château Canon La Gaffeliere is based on 50% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, brought up in 50% new French oak, with the balance all in used barrels.

A prestigious Premier Grand Cru Classe of Saint-Emilion, Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere has produced in 2018 another successful vintage. Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere enjoys an exceptional location, at the foot of a hill, south of the village of Saint-Emilion, on the right bank of Bordeaux.

96 points James Suckling
96 points Wine Spectator
96 points Wine Enthusiast

A rich, exotic wine, the 2015 Chateau Cantenac Brown is simply stunning. This 2015 Chateau Cantenac Brown wine has a fresh, perfumed bouquet of raspberry, wild strawberry and cedar aromas that feel very focused and cohesive. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit and gentle grip, and quite saline in the mouth, leading into a spicy, vivacious. There is breeding interwoven into this Margaux, palpable sophistication, and it finishes with panache, fanning out with lightly spiced red and black fruit. The 2015 Chateau Cantenac Brown wine is quite concentrated and extracted in style, and yet all the elements are wonderfully fused together. This impressed in barrel just as it does here. Highly recommended. Best from 2022 through 2035.

96 points Wine Enthusiast
95 points Decanter
94 points James Suckling

The 2019 Chateau Carbonnieux wine has a deep purplish ruby hue to go with a brilliant nose of red and black currants, spring flowers, spicy oak, and hints of tobacco. This Chateau Carbonnieux wine is beautiful on the palate as well and is medium to full-bodied, has a seamless, elegant texture, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It’s the finest wine I’ve tasted from this estate.

Founded in the 13th century, Chateau Carbonnieux is located in the Pessac-Léognan appellation and is one of the oldest wine estates in Bordeaux. In 1956, Marc Perrin acquired the chateau, which became a Classified Growth in 1959 for its Red and White wines.

This 2019 Chateau Carbonnieux wine has a blend Cabernet sauvignon (60%), merlot (30%), cabernet franc (5%), petit verdot (5%).

94 points Jeb Dunnuck
94 points James Suckling
93 points Wine Enthusiast

The 2012 Chateau Cheval Blanc wine has a medium to deep garnet colored. This Saint-Emilion wine reveals lovely cassis, warm black cherries and redcurrant jelly notions with underlying hints of cedar chest, garrigue, Indian spices and damp soil. The Chateau Cheval Blanc wine has a medium to full-bodied, it possesses wonderful energy and freshness on the palate with a beautifully poised ethereal nature and long mineral-tinged finish.

The Chateau Cheval Blanc 1er grand cru classé A is elegantly crafted beauty should enter its drinking window in a couple of years and cellar gracefully for another 20+ years.

The 2012 Chateau Cheval Blanc wine is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised and grilled dishes. This Premier Grand Cru Classé “A”, wine is also good when matched with Asian dishes, rich fish courses like tuna, mushrooms and pasta.

96 points Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
95 points Wine Enthusiast
95 points Wine Spectator

The 2015 Chateau Cos d’Estournel wine has a deep garnet-purple in color. This Cos d’Estournel wine offers up black currants, spice cake, warm cherries and plum preserves with touches of chargrill and forest floor. This 2015 Chateau Cos d’Estournel wine is medium-bodied and very firm with ripe, grainy tannins, it has a good core of earthy fruit, finishing with loads of layers and freshness.

The 2015 Chateau Cos d’Estournel wine is backward and broody on the nose, just like the Pagodes de Cos, but it unfurls nicely in the glass to reveal intense blackberry, graphite and light tobacco aromas. The oak is nicely integrated here. This 2015 Chateau Cos d’Estournel wine is medium-bodied with impressive depth, well-judged acidity and plenty of tobacco-infused black fruit. This is a fine Cos d’Estournel wine that should give 20 to 25 years of drinking pleasure.
Anticipated maturity: 2020 – 2040.

The 2015 Chateau Cos d’Estournel wine is composed of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23.5% Merlot and 1.5% Cabernet Franc.

98 points James Suckling
96 points Wine Enthusiast
95 points Decanter