(96+ points) One of the more primordial, backward wines in the vintage, the 2018 Bellevue Mondotte is 90% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, brought up in new barrels. Dense purple-hued, it...
(96+ points) One of the more primordial, backward wines in the vintage, the 2018 Bellevue Mondotte is 90% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, brought up in new barrels. Dense purple-hued, it delivers a mineral-drench bouquet of chocolate-covered currants and black cherries as well as notes of camphor, loamy earth, graphite, and violets. Full-bodied and beautifully concentrated on the palate, it still has the vintage's pure, elegant, light on its feet style as well as plenty of background oak, ripe, silky tannins, and again, this wonderful sense of minerality. The cellar will be your friend. I'd give bottles at least 5-7 years, and it should keep for 30-40 years or more. It's an incredible Saint-Emilion.