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Bellevue-Mondotte 2005

Tasting Notes

Made up of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the opaque bluish/purple 2005 from Bellevue-Mondotte offers amazing chocolate espresso notes along with blueberry and blackberry liqueur, some incense and a hint of flowers. Full-bodied and staggeringly concentrated, this blockbuster wine (in a blockbuster vintage) is unreal. Talk about a wine that is beyond belief – this is a great achievement from Chantal and Gérard Perse. Drink it over the next 25-30 years. Sadly, there were only 340 or so cases produced. Drink 2015-2045.

100
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (219), June 2015

The Château Bellevue-Mondotte 2005 is brutal and backward on the nose, but with aeration is gradually opens and displays more delineation and terroir expression than the Monbousquet. The palate is full-bodied and dense, assertive tannin although unlike the Monbousquet it is backed up by intense black fruit. It is a heady, at the moment quite oppressive Bellevue-Mondotte. In 10 or 15 years time it will either blow your socks off of leave you wondering why you didn't buy the sumptuous Château Pavie '05. Drink 2025 - 2045

92
Neal Martin, RobertParker.com, February 2015

Wow. This is incredible. Pure raspberry aromas jumping out of the glass. The palate is dense and powerful with loads of fruit and hints of chocolate and toasted oak. Tannic. This is extraordinary. Blockbuster

95/100
James Suckling, WineSpectator.com, March 2006

Dark crimson. Scented and sweet. Gentler than some other wines from this stable. But still a bit aggressive. 14.5%
Drink 2018-2030

16
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com, February 2015
Read more tasting notes...

This tiny gem of a property, cropped at 15 hectoliters per hectare, is composed of 5 acres of 45-year old Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and a tiny parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon. It has produced one of the vintage’s most compelling wines in 2005. Sadly, there are only 4,000 bottles of this inky/purple-hued St.-Emilion. It boasts an extraordinary perfume of graphite, blackberries, cassis, and sweet kirsch intermixed with notes of incense, spice box, licorice, and subtle wood. Stunningly rich with full body, zesty acidity, and high but velvety tannins, the final blend is composed of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. This monumental St.-Emilion requires a decade of cellaring, but it should last for 4-5 decades. It will unquestionably be one of the vintage’s immortals. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2035

99
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (176), April 2008

The ultimate garage estate (5 acres planted with 45-year-old Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and a tiny amount of Cabernet Sauvignon), the 2005 Bellevue Mondotte was cropped at 15 hectoliters per hectare, which is amazing given the fact that there are 5,500 vines per hectare. The wine was given a 10-day cold soak as well as a 42-day maceration, fermentation in open top oak tanks, malolactic in barrel, and was aged 3 months on its lees. A 4,000-bottle cuvee of pure nectar, it boasts a dense purple color along with notes of spring flowers, kirsch liqueur, blackberries, cedar, incense, and spice. The flamboyant aromatics are followed by a wine of great distinction, huge richness, massive body, good acidity, and high tannin. The final blend of 90% Merlot and the rest equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc has resulted in a monumental wine that requires 8-10 years of cellaring; it should keep for 40+ years.

96/100
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (170), April 2007

The quintessential garage wine, Bellevue Mondotte emerges from a five acre vineyard acquired by Chantal and Gerard Perse in 2002. Situated on pure limestone above the Perse’s two other vineyards, Pavie and Pavie Decesse, the average age of the vines is 45 years, and the blend tends to be dominated by Merlot (90%) with tiny dollops of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. A prodigious wine of extraordinary intensity, it differs from Pavie in that it is more open-knit, expansive, and ripe, and not as strikingly intense in minerality. Boasting colossal proportions, the inky/purple-hued 2005 reveals a sumptuous nose of creme de cassis, kirsch, licorice, new saddle leather, and roasted meats. Dense, opulent, and voluptuous with high tannin, this tour de force in winemaking should be among the more precocious of Perse’s 2005s. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2030.

96/98+
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (164), April 2006
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.