2023 Château Bellefont-Belcier, Grand Cru Classé St-Emilion

The 2023 Bellefont-Belcier is dark, pliant and super-expressive. This heady, explosive wine is packed with dark fruit, gravel, incense and licorice. Pencil shavings, lavender and chocolate linger on the potent, resonant finish. Interestingly, Bellefont-Belcier was once quite opulent. Consulting winemaker Thomas Duclos dialed it back starting with the 2018 vintage but now seems to be searching for more of a middle ground. Tasted three times.

This well-defined and sophisticated wine shows a gorgeous center-palate of near perfectly ripe fruit. Lots of dark berries and minerals with some pine, while the texture is full and compact with layers of well-integrated, fine tannins. The finish is seamless. Just a hint of salt at the end of the pretty fruit. 72% merlot, 18% cabernet franc and 10% cabernet sauvignon.

The 2023 Bellefont Belcier demonstrates this property's continuing renaissance, exhibiting more density and seriousness as the team starts to get the best out of their holdings on the plateau of Saint-Émilion overlooking the slopes that surround the château. Offering up aromas of dark berries and cherries mingled with hints of burning embers and iris, it's medium to full-bodied, supple and fleshy, with a layered core of fruit, powdery structuring tannins and a long, penetrating finish.