95pts The Wine Cellar Insider
Supple, sensuous and fresh, there is a vibrancy and purity to the fruits that makes you want to pay attention. Full-bodied, rich and generous, the wine feels as good as it tastes as it feels. The fruits linger and expand on your palate through to the finish. This is in contention for the best vintage of Chateau Bellevue I have ever tasted. It is so good now, it is impossible to resist. But, it is only going to get better with age. The wine is produced from 100% old vine Merlot. Drink from 2025-2050.
94pts Jane Anson
Good stuff, a lovely wine with powerful but supple tannic architecture. As is so often the case with Bellevue, it reveals a side of delicate, floral almost austere side of Merlot that is atypical to the grape but a perfect reflection of the cool 6.82ha clay-limestone slopes - think blueberries and slate, unshowy but with staying power. Owned by de Bouard family and the de Lavau family. Benjamin de Laforest winemaker. Interestingly, the family chose to keep this wine within the St Emilion ranking, so it remains Grand Cru Classé, unlike sibling estate Château Angélus. 33hl/ha yield.
94pts Decanter
A rich slick stripe of damson and smoked oak, but things close down pretty quickly on the palate. There are fine but tight tannins here, with a sweep of acidity traveling fast and swift through the palate, until the whole thing expands and softens after a minute in the glass. Great delicacy, power and depth, you would almost think there is Cabernet Franc in here because of its verticality, and beautifully rough slate texture on the finish. I love it. A yield of 33hl/ha.
94pts Jeb Dunnuck
I loved the 2020 Château Bellevue, and this might be the finest vintage I’ve tasted from this address. Lots of cassis and blue fruits as well as toasted spice, chocolate, and chalky minerality emerge from the glass, and it’s medium to full-bodied, with a great texture, ripe tannins, and a nice mix of freshness and richness.
94pts James Suckling
A full-bodied, firm and intense red with blackcurrants, toasted walnuts, violets, smoked paprika and dried herbs on the nose. Sturdy frame from firm yet polished tannins. Powerful and wonderfully integrated.
93pts Vinous
The 2020 Bellevue is always so seductive out of the barrel and this is no different, armed with glorious, extremely pure black cherries, blueberry, crushed violet and iris scents, the oak seamlessly integrated. The palate medium-bodied with lithe tannins, and quite zesty on the mid-palate, revealing veins of blood orange. Cohesive on the finish with a veneer of new oak that will require a few years to be fully assimilated. Lovely.
History
The Chateau was the property of the de Conink and Pradel de Lavaux families, also owners of the historic negociant house of Horeau-Beylot. In September 2007, Chateau Angélus acquired a 50% share in the company. This purchase was motivated as much by the geographical situation of the chateau, next-door to Angélus, as well as chateaux Beaséjour Duffau-Lagarrosse and Beau-Séjour Bécot, as by the exceptional quality of its terroir. Already in 1938, Maurice de Boüard de Laforest wished to buy the property and seventy years later his children and grand-children have realised his dream.
It is the de Lavaux family who hold the other half of the property. Together, the two families will carry on the work started in 2000 by Nicolas Thienpont and Stéphane Derenoncourt. The promotion of the property will be reinforced by the dynamism of Chateau Angelus.
