Château Bélair-Monange 2018

Château Bélair-Monange is a Saint-Émilion Grand Cru on the right bank of Bordeaux, an estate that was making wine before the French Revolution and was reborn after Jean Pierre Moueix acquired it in 2008, adding Monange, his mother's surname, to the name. The vineyard sits on the limestone plateau and the clay-limestone slopes below it, where the cool, water-holding limestone moderates ripening and gives the wine its fresh acidity and chalky structure. The blend is led by Merlot, which thrives on this cooler clay-limestone and brings ripe, rounded fruit, with a little Cabernet Franc for perfume and backbone. Ageing in French oak barrels rounds the tannins and folds cedar and cocoa into the fruit through slow oxygen exchange. The 2018 is a deep garnet. The nose shows fresh raspberry and ripe morello cherry over plum, tobacco, oak and a savoury, earthy minerality. The palate is plush but firmly framed, with supple tannin, dark red fruit and a long, mineral finish drawn from the limestone. Serve at 17 degrees and decant ahead. It suits roast lamb, beef and game, and earthy mushroom dishes.