99 Points Decanter - One of the standouts in 2019. Red fruit aromatics are so clear on the nose, strawberries and sweet red cherries with some bramble floral notes - delicate and liffed. Gorgeous expression on the palate, so finely framed with tannins that are smooth and supple, effortlessly coating the mouth and giving life to the bright cherry and raspberry fruit. This has grace - slender and smooth - the flavors just glide across the palate, filling out the mouth with lashings of limestone terroir markers - crystalline fruit purity, crushed stones, mint and minerality. Clearly concentrated, there's layers of flavor but there's also such persistence, the flavors go on and on. Wonderful lift and so charming. I absolutely love it.
99 Points James Suckling - Wonderful aromas of fresh flowers, blackberries and cherries. Licorice and lilacs, too. Full-bodied, yet so tight and refined, translucent and weightless. Incredible purity and excellence. This is the heart and soul of the property in a glass. Really pinpointed at the end. Enchanting and thought-provoking. Needs time to open and soften. Try after 2028.
98 Points Jeb Dunnuck - The flagship 2019 Château Belair-Monange checks in as 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc from 25-year-old vines and raised in 50% new French oak. It's a magical wine in the vintage and offers more depth and richness than just about every other Saint-Emilion out there, all while holding onto a gorgeous sense of finesse and elegance, which would almost have me guessing Pomerol in a blind tasting. Deep red and black fruits, truffly earth, tobacco, and spring flower notes all emerge on the nose, and this puppy is full-bodied, has a layered, seamless mouthfeel, gorgeous tannins, and one heck of a great finish. It's stunning, and while it offers incredible pleasure today given its purity and flawless balance, it deserves 7-8 years of bottle age and will evolve for 30 years or more.
97 Points Jane Anson - Such a lesson in limestone terroir with its precision, knife-spliced and restrained violet flowers, raspberry and redcurrant fruits. You need to chisel through the austerity to get to the creamy, fleshy side of these fruits but it is very definitely there. So good, enjoy, take your time, give 6 to 8 years to fully let that creamy raspberry puree and deeper black cherry side come out to join saffron, sage and slate minerality. Love it.
96 Points Wine Enthusiast - A structured, elegant wine at the top of its form. It has ripe blackberry fruits, a rich texture and a fine future. Solid but with a fine style, the wine will be ready from 2027. *Editors' Choice*
95 Points Wine Advocate - Like Trotanoy, though of course not to the same extent, the 2019 Belair Monange is another of the richer, more powerful wines in the Mouiex portfolio this year. Offering up aromas of sweet cherries, wild berries, vanilla pod, plum preserve, warm spices and cedary new oak, it's full-bodied, broad and muscular, with a deep and layered core of ripe, sun-kissed fruit that's framed by lively acids and ripe, powdery tannins.
17.5+/20 Points Jancis Robinson - 96% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc. Cask sample. Fresh, poised and intense with red-fruit aromas and a brush-stroke of chalk. Voluptuous fruit on the palate but plenty of energy and drive, the fruit juicy and refreshing. Plentiful tannins but very, very fine, the finish long and persistent. Pin-point execution.
