Chateau Bellefont-Belcier Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé 2020 i trækasse

Jeb Dunnuck

Jeb Dunnuck

The finest wine I've tasted from this estate, the 2020 Château Bellefont-Belcier is an incredibly gorgeous blend of 70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep ruby/purple-hued, it offers a great nose of cassis, ripe black cherries, camphor, dried flowers, cedar, and forest floor. Bringing gorgeous richness, it nevertheless stays flawlessly balanced, with ultra-fine tannins and a great finish. The purity of fruit here is just about off the charts. While it already offers pleasure, it's going to benefit from short-term cellaring and have 20-25 years of prime drinking. This estate uses a five-day cold soak and fermentation, all in concrete, spanning 25 days. Malolactic fermentation occurs in barrel (four months on lees), and the wine spends 18 months in 30% new French oak, with the balance in once- and twice-used barrels. Yields in 2020 were also reasonable at 34 hectoliters per hectare.

James Suckling

Fascinating aromas of plums, peaches, lavender, violets, and other flowers. Hints of fresh herbs, too. So complex. Full-bodied yet so elegant and polished with a curated and focused palate. Hints of chocolate at the end. It’s so subtle and complex. Weightless on the palate. About 30% was aged in 30 hectoliter casks. 72% merlot, 18% cabernet franc and 10% cabernet sauvignon.

Forbes

A walloping slap of fresh, powerfully fruity aromas—red and black cherries—as well as a sliver of spearmint. Lush, plush and gorgeously rounded mouth feel and flavors that include ripe cherries, cacao, cumin and black pepper. Clementines and plums mid palate, bright acidity on the finish. A harmonious beauty.

Tastingbook.com

Les Echos

This beautiful estate, still too little known, is set on a magnificent terroir near Larcis Ducasse and carries out meticulous work. Highly aromatic with a refreshing aesthetic, this is a taut, fleshy wine that is perfectly balanced and energetic.

Decanter

Crushed herb and tobacco leaf along with red berry fruit enchant. Very pure and fresh, indeed gaining in coolness, with more cool blue fruit than either the 2018 or 2019, even if the alcohol level is the same. 30% new oak for ageing, plus 20% in ovoid wooden vats of 40-hectolitres, accentuating fruit purity. 'Our most precise vintage so far,' winemaking director, Jean-Christophe Meyrou, told me two years ago when tasting from barrel. It shines from bottle, but needs a few more years to enter a proper drinking window.

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

The oceanic influences are what you initially find before moving on to all the flowers, smoke, and red fruits The wine is fresh, vibrant, elegant and refined. The red fruits show purity with a salty edge on the palate. There is length and precision here that builds and lingers.

Markus del Monego MW

A precisely defined and well balanced wine with great potential.

Vert de Vin Magazine

The nose is fresh, elegant and offers a flowery side, a nice concentration (in finesse/control), justness and a nice freshness. It reveals notes of bright/fresh cassis, fleshy/fresh strawberry, small notes of small black berries associated with touches of violet, nutmeg, liquorish stick, small fresh/ripe wild fruits, fine hints of zan, a discreet hint of caramelization and a subtle hint of pepper. the mouth is fruity, all-in finesse/control and offers freshness, juiciness, a good definition, gourmandize, a certain tension, precision, a stretched/racy side, darkness, complexity and a certain aerial side in the balances. On the palate this wine expresses notes of juicy/pulpy blackberry, bright cassis, small notes of wild raspberry associated with touches of small fresh/ripe fruits as well as hints of tonka bean, caramelization, fine hints of cornflower, saffron, cherry flower, vanilla. nice hints of sapid in the finish. The tannins are racy, precis and fine. Good length. Discreet hints of cacao and a subtle hint of dark olives in the finish/persistence.

WinesCritic.com

Deep and structured showing notes of black prunes, cherries, dates, mixed mushrooms, liquorice and mixed roots. Full bodied, great structure and a solid, engaging finale.

Din VinGuide

Vine fra Saint-Émilion, som er værd at prøve: Virkeligt indsmigrende næse med violer. En flot og elegant frugt med brombær, cedertræ, tobak, tørrede blomster og toastnoter. Fine, runde tanniner og meget velbalanceret. En stor vin til en virkeligt flot pris.

Robert Parker

The 2020 Bellefont Belcier is a terrific follow up to the excellent 2019. Wafting from the glass with aromas of dark berries, licorice, bay leaf and spices, it's medium to full-bodied, seamless and refined, with lovely depth at the core, vibrant acids and a long, chalky finish. It's great to see one of Saint-Émilion's sleeping giants awakening.

Antonio Galloni

The 2020 Bellefont-Belcier signals a major move away from the potent, brooding style of years past towards an expression of this site that seeks greater finesse. That is immediately apparent in the wine's feel and tannin profile. Dark plum, lavender, espresso, menthol, licorice and spice are all laced together. I would give the 2020 a few years to soften. It is super-promising, that much is clear.

Falstaff

Deep dark ruby, opaque core, purple reflections, brighter at the rim. Delicate noble wood savouriness, nuances of ripe red and black wild berries, a hint of clove and cardamom, tobacco touch. Juicy, elegant, pronounced fruit core, ripe tannins, salty touch, mineral finish with just a trace of nougat, cohesive and well-balanced. Good ageing potential.

Jane Anson, Inside Bordeaux

The steady restoration of Bellefont-Belcier to a classified St Emilion worth following continues with this vintage, and it is packed with dark cherry fruits, pomegranate, crayon, tobacco and saffron.

The Wine Independent

Alexandre Ma