2012 Château Bellevue-Mondotte

A blend of 90% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from the Perse team, the 2012 Bellevue Mondotte is a deep ruby/purple colored effort that offers serious amounts of blackberry and blackcurrant fruit to go with tons of graphite, licorice, chocolate, and dried herbs. Big, rich, and locked and loaded, with full-bodied power, plenty of toasty oak, ripe tannin, and stunning purity, drink it anytime over the coming 20-25 years.

The smallest of the Perse estates, this tiny property situated on pure limestone produces a wine made from a blend of 90% Merlot and the rest equal parts Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. One of the superstars of this vintage, the 2012 is opaque purple and exhibits tremendous concentration and richness, a full-bodied mouthfeel, and a layered texture that builds incrementally without any heaviness or cloying characteristics. This is stunning, great, old-style, yet progressively made Bordeaux to drink over the next 25-30 years. The alcohol level is 14.3%.

90% Merlot, 5% each of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. 100% new French oak. Colour of elderberry juice. Smells rather like it too. Very ripe, very intense but not porty! Highly extracted, deep in char but the fruit is compact. Tannins also compact and firm but not hard or bitter. Extreme but balanced. Just not my style. (JH)