The 2018 Bellevue Mondotte is a Bordeaux blend hailing from the Saint Emilion region of Bordeaux, France. Composed predominantly of 90% Merlot, with 5% each of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine is deep garnet-purple in color and carries an alcohol content of 14.5%.
James Suckling rates this wine highly with a score of 97, highlighting its "intense tannins that are wonderfully polished, yet powerful," and describes the wine as having "so much crushed stone, mineral, blackberry and blueberry with black-olive and lavender undertones." He notes that it is full-bodied with a long finish and suggests trying it after 2025.
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate also awards the 2018 Bellevue Mondotte a score of 97, with Lisa Perrotti-Brown praising its "profound scents of chocolate-covered cherries, preserved plums, blackberry compote and espresso," along with hints of "candied violets, tapenade, cast-iron pan and unsmoked cigars." She highlights its firm, grainy tannins and fantastic freshness, recommending a good five years in the bottle for maximum impact, with a drinking window over the next 25 years or more.
Jeff Leve of TheWineCellarInsider.com provides another excellent review, rating it 97 and describing it as "intensely mineral driven," with "crushed rock, stone and oceanic influences on the nose and palate." He advises giving this full-bodied, dense, and intense wine at least a decade in the cellar before opening.
Decanter offers a slightly lower score of 92 but still finds the wine "powerful and concentrated, rippling with - rather than constricted by - the tannins." They note that the wine is produced from 50-year-old vines with a yield of 30 hectoliters per hectare in 2018, and aged in 100% new oak.
Jeb Dunnuck also rates it highly at 96+, calling it "one of the more primordial, backward wines in the vintage" and praising its "mineral-drench bouquet of chocolate-covered currants and black cherries." He suggests giving it 5-7 years in the cellar and estimates its longevity at 30-40 years or more.
Antonio Galloni of Vinous describes the wine as "sumptuous and racy," with "inky dark fruit, gravel, spice, mint, lavender, bittersweet chocolate and black pepper." He scores it 96, noting its firm tannins and allure.
Lastly, Wine Spectator rates it 96, describing it as "suave and alluring" with "toast and melted licorice notes draped over a core of warmed plum, raspberry and blackberry confiture flavors." They recommend it as best from 2022 through 2038.
Overall, the 2018 Bellevue Mondotte is a highly praised wine with a strong, mineral-driven profile, well-suited for extended aging.