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Wine Description
The Story
Partly an enclave of Château Pavie Decesse, on the Saint-Emilion clay limestone plateau, Château Bellevue-Mondotte is tiny in size, but has an "immense” terroir.
Overlooking the Dordogne valley from a height of 80 meters, this estate combines all the necessary characteristics for producing high quality wines: meagre soil, excellent south-facing sun exposure, fine natural drainage due to its position on a slope, protection from frost damage, and shelter from northerly winds.
Green harvesting, with an initial leaf thinning on the eastern side of the vines in late June and a second in mid-August on the western side.
The grapes are hand-picked and hand sorted. Alcoholic fermentation is triggered by indigenous yeast in temperature-controlled wooden vats. The wine is kept on the skins for 3 to 5 weeks. Malolactic fermentation takes place in barrel.
Château Bellevue-Mondotte is barrel-aged for six months on its lees (100% of new oak) for a total of aproximatively 24 months. Final blending takes place just before bottling, and the wine is neither fined nor filtered.
Vintage 2009
Much like 1947, 1961 and 2005, 2009 is a year of almost overly (for Bordeaux) flamboyant and opulent wines with high maturity and low acidity. The tannins are exceptionally ripe, while the wines are quite voluptuous in style. The Left Bank recorded more hours of sunshine than legendary vintages such as 1947 and 1982, and the grapes had higher sugar concentrations than in 2003 and 2005. The key was significant diurnal temperature variations that allowed the grapes to withstand hot daytime temperatures. An exceptional vintage on all levels.