Chateau Bellevue 2021

A charred or toasted spiced note is evident on the nose. Really juicy and lively on the palate, fun and playful. Just so upfront in the light, airy blackcurrant and strawberry juice. Lightly framed with good energy and well-integrated tannins. An easy-to-approach wine with a juicy quality throughout, lifted and joyful. No massive complexity but easy, with a vanilla, creamy, stony finish.

100% Merlot. Cask sample. Fleshy but with plenty of tension across the palate. Certainly fresh, with the chalky terroir evident. Tight and firmly structured but drying on the finish, the oak present. Awkward stage but it should all fall into place. (JL)

Chocolate-topped cherries, flowers and spice fill the perfume. The wine is medium-bodied, soft, forward, fresh and supple, finishing with salty-edged, polished, red fruits on the backend. The wine is made from 100% old vine Merlot. Drink from 2024-2037.

Kunz barrel sample 2022: velvety, powerful, fruity, dense, creamy bouquet, cherries, blackcurrants, liquorice, toasted notes. Tightly woven, velvety palate with powerful dark fruit, plenty of fine tannins, a delicately opulent, elegant structure, powerful sweet aromatics, long, dense finish.

A late-ripening estate that can be austere when young even in the biggest vintages, and here you will definitely feel the emphasis on sculpted raspberry fruits, with limestone acidity. Juicy and elegant, it opens up when you give it time, and will soften up over ageing. Lemongrass and gunsmoke minerality, this is bright and focused.

Deep, intense dark red color. Very aromatic nose with pure, ripe fruit. Delicate on the attack, very fruity mid-palate, with a soft, caressing body; the wine unfolds juicy, fine, and noble on the finish, with a touch of liveliness. 100% merlot.