Country: France

Region: Bordeaux - Saint-Emilion

Vintage: 2020

Cépage: Merlot (70%); Cabernet Franc (25%); Cabernet Sauvignon (5%)

Size: 750 ml

Rating(s): 94+ (RP); 98 (JD); 97 (JS)

"The finest wine I've tasted from this estate, the 2020 Château Bellefont-Belcier is an incredibly gorgeous blend . 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."

Jeb Dunnuck (JD) - 03/23