One of the highlights of the vintage, the 2014 Bélair-Monange hits the palate with serious depth, palpable energy and huge, imposing tannins. All the elements come together in a dark, sumptuous wine that brings together deep layers of fruit along with beams of precise, salivating minerality. Sweet floral and spice notes add lift on the close, but above all else the 2014 is a wine of power. The fresh, invigorating finish encapsulates the essence of the vintage. Since 2012, Bélair-Monange has been made from three parcels on gravel, clay and limestone. It is that very intersection that yields one of the most distinctive wines in St.-Emilion. Two thousand fourteen is also the first vintage that includes fruit from the replanting done on the plateau. I tasted the Bélair-Monange last in my survey of the Moueix family's 2014s, after Trotanoy and La Fléur-Petrus, and it more than held its own.

The 2014 Bélair-Monange has an open, aniseed-tinged bouquet with plenty of ripe red berry fruit. There is something playful and joyful about these aromatics that demand to be noticed. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity, firm tannin, quite grippy in the mouth but there are some lovely liquorice and spice notes that come through on the finish. Excellent. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. - vinous.com, March 2018