Château Bélair-Monange 2017 is a bold and elegant Saint-Émilion with loads of personality. Mostly Merlot, it shows off rich blackberry and plum flavors, hints of spice and earth, and smooth, refined tannins. Grown on high limestone soils that escaped the 2017 frost, the wine has great freshness and structure. It’s serious enough to age for years, but already pretty tempting if you’re patient for just a bit longer.

The Wine Advocate | RP 98
Published: Mar 16, 2020
Drink: 2024-2070

Made of 98% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc, the 2017 Belair Monange is medium to deep garnet-purple in color. With a little swirling, this baby comes bounding out of the glass with energetic notes of wild blueberries, Morello cherries, baked plums and black raspberries with wafts of Indian spices, lavender, garrigue and tobacco plus a hint of licorice. Medium to full-bodied, the black and blue fruit dance playfully on the palate with fantastic freshness to lift the bold flavors and a superb frame of ripe, velvety tannins. It finishes very long and with amazing zing. So tempting to drink now, but make no mistake—this is one for the long haul!

According to Christian Moueix, most of their frost damage happened to Lalande de Pomerol. At Chateau Belair, there is absolutely no production this year. Production for the lower parts of Pomerol was down by around 33%.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 96
Published: Dec 17, 2019

Fresh earth, truffle, sous bois and attractively ripe blueberry and plum aromas here. It’s a bold and very pure, primary wine here for now, yet this has great potential. The palate reveals beautifully ripe red-plum and cherry flavors with a powerful tannin statement that carries impressive depth and scale on the finish. Give this time. Try from 2023.

Decanter | D 96
Published: Feb 11, 2020
Drink: 2025-2040

This has the austerity of limestone in 2017 but it also has the well-worked, delicate flesh of these exemplary soils, and the careful inching forward of fruit, building up layer by layer, adding blueberry and raspberry fruits, and providing little bursts of minerality that keep your mouth watering long after the finish. Great stuff.

Belairmonange.com

Château Bélair-Monange has long been recognized as an exceptional wine.
Since its acquisition in 2008 by Etablissements Jean-Pierre Moueix, each and every effort has been made so that this remarkable vineyard thrives

Vintage 2017

The winter of 2016-2017 was dry and sunny.
Spring was the third warmest since 1900, with the exception of a few cold nights on April 27 and 28 that caused frost damage in certain terroirs.

The Bélair-Monange vineyard, the highest point of the limestone plateau of Saint-Émilion, was spared from the frost.
The potential harvest was abundant. We carried out numerous green interventions (shoot thinning, removal of the third cluster, crop thinning, leaf removal on both sides) to limit yield, maximize grape ventilation, homogenize the crop, and ensure quality. All of these operations were tailored to each plot, and sometimes even to portions of plots.

The summer was marked by persistent drought (average rainfall was 30% below normal) and several heatwave episodes. The clay and limestone soils, natural regulators of water supply, ensured a steady water intake for the Bélair-Monange vines throughout this period.

Some rainfall in early September completed the ripening process and enhanced the quality of the vintage.
On tasting, the berries were both sun-drenched and fresh, with intense aromas of black and blue fruits; the thick skins were rich in supple tannins.

Harvest took place from September 15 to 30.

CLASSIFICATION: 1°  Grand Cru Classé
VINEYARD SIZE: 23.5 hectares (58 acres)
SOIL TYPES: Asteriated limestone on the plateau/ Blue clay on limestone in the slopes
VINEYARD GRAPE VARIETALS: 90% Merlot - 10% Cabernet Franc
AVERAGE VINE AGE: 25 years
VITICULTURE: «Culture raisonnée» Soil tilling (4 ways) Vine growth management adapted to the climatic conditions
HARVEST: Manual harvest Double sorting: optical and manual
WINEMAKING: In thermo-regulated concrete and stainless-steel vats Gentle, controlled maceration and extraction
AGING: 16-18 months in French oak barrels (50% new)
2015 VINTAGE BLEND: 98% Merlot - 2% Cabernet Franc