Château Belair (Dubois-Challon) Château Belair (Dubois-Challon)

Great nose. Fruit is holding nicely. Very enjoyable

Brought back directly from St. Émilion - a bit past its best, but still a nice soft drinking experience, I feel that my bottle fared better than other tasting notes on here, as there was still some solid freshness, but it did not wow me.

Grand Jury du Vin - Republic of Georgia; 11/1/2023-11/9/2023 (Republic of Georgia then stopover in Paris and Dijon) : Dirty damp cellar, shy red fruit and mostly tertiary. The fruit has mostly faded. I believe this is a correct bottle that came directly from the chateau.

Tasted double blind from a small capped bottle as part of a zoom tasting. Clearly BDX - mature and pretty. Rich and spicy. Do I get some charcoal? Dark black cherry and cassis fruit. Has a nice Graham cracker sweetness. A bit of herbal. Seems to dry out quickly. Great balance on the palate. That hint of sweetness is a bit of strawberry with some acid and fine tannins in the back. Really pure and translucent with nice red tones. …

Late Dec 2021: served approx. 30 minutes after decanting; deep purple red color; started with a very restrained nose, bouquet development took off after approx. 2 hours and revealed dark berries, black cherries, violets and mint; surprisingly bland with a touch of salt and no acidity on the tongue; however, quite tannic and slightly acidic in the cheeks; long finish. Another educational encounter with a Chateau Belair from the Dubois-Challon area. Even nearly 40 years after the harvest the color …

Very mature, in what I suspect is a old, old school bdx. Really no fruit left, but loads of dry Tobacco, leather, tar, tea. On the palate soft, with forest floor, tea on the palate. Enjoyable for what it is.

A surprisingly nice showing for this bottle. Dark black fruits with lots of nice spices and a pretty underlying sweetness. Mature, yet lovely.

Saturday Blind Tasting - Bordeaux '03 and Older (Chevalier Fine Wines) : Blind. Deliciously attractive nose with loads of complexity -- dried plum, herb, menthol, tobacco and cigar ash. The palate is super-elegant and refined. Very feminine with a long, lifted finish full of clay and mineral notes. Great showing.

DnP. Beautifully brick coloured, orange rim, 4.5. Very evolved mature bouquet, spicy, forest floor, mature sweetness, really complex. Harmonious palate, almost resolved tannins, excellent balance, elegant finish. Drink now-onwards. Really a fine specimen showing all the virtues of the vintage. Went very well together with the roasted chicken

Private Tasting (@Restaurant Bellovedere da Toni, Waiblingen) : Quite youthful, clear, medium garnet color. Fantastic complex, clean, medium+ intense and fully developed nose with layers of leather, tobacco, black fruit, tar, smoke, fine oak. Dry, medium, perfectly integrated acidity, medium+ fine and velvet tannin. Medium+ intense flavors of red and black fruit. Complex, elegant, velvet/silky mouth feel, very balanced yet with enough of pressure and tension. This bottle would have certainly a potential for further ageing of 5-10+ years. What …

1982 Bordeaux tasting; 11/5/2010-11/6/2010 (Bremen, Germany) : This was on its way out. Nose still fresh, on the palate chocolate, tobacco, earth, little fruit left.

I really love a little horse & leather in my wine! Deep in color this showed brownish orange on the rim. The nose was fantastic - horse, leather, wet earth - on and on eventually morphing into cedar. The palate was fantastic, wonderfully balanced with ample fruit among the earthy mushroom flavors. Very pleasant.

From mag; Somewhat oaky on the nose but with fruit and mushroom flavors in the middle. Quite nice and ready to drink.