Chateau Belle-Vue, La Renaissance, Bekaa Valley

This wine would be great in a blind tasting with a bunch of wine geeks, as it is a ringer for a wine from Bordeaux. It is ruby, medium (+) in intensity, with few signs of ageing. The nose is clean, but skewed towards tertiary aromas such as mushrooms, loam and leather, with some alcohol and black fruit on the background. Overall, the nose seems very French. On the palate, it is very dry, with medium (+) acidity and medium …

Drinking Outside of the Box, But not Drinking Well (Irene's Garden) : Very dark red color. 2-3 hours decant. 1.5 oz pour over 15 minutes. Black licorice on the nose, dry earth, wood, cassis, blackberry. The palate is consistent, rather tannic, green.