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Renamed Bélair-Monange to honor Anne-Adèle Monange, the wife of the estate’s owner Jean-Paul Moueix, in 2008, this estate was previously just Bélair. This ’07 St-Émilion shines even in a difficult vintage. Sweet fruit, smoke, and floral aromatics engage in a delicate dance; however, the ‘07’s serious structure guides this waltz with a commanding hand. Drinking to the end of the next decade.
- Country: France
- Region: Bordeaux
- Commune/Village: St. Emilion
The story began with the Hundred Years’ War during which an English military commander named Robert de Knolles established his residence at Bel Air. It was his descendents, whose surname with time had gallicized to Canolle, that established viticulture at the chateau and owned the winery until the Revolution.
The château was purchased by the the Dubois-Challon family, of neighbouring property Ch. Ausone, in 1916. Both estates were run by Edouard Dubois-Challon’s widow upon his death in 1975, with the assitance of Pascal Delbeck, who in turn inherited both chateaux upon her death in 2003.
The christening of Bélair-Monange occured in 2008, when the estate was purchased by Établissements JP Moueix, negociant, owner and manager of Pomerol icon Petrus, among other eminent properties. The added suffix is a tribute to Anne-Adèle Monange, mother of JP Moueix founder Jean-Pierre Moueix. Starting with the 2009 vintage, the bottles will be labelled as Bélair-Monange.
The vineyard is located just to the south of St. Emilion itself, of which 40% are on south-facing limestone slopes with the remaining on a plateau with clay on limestone. Merlot dominates, accounting 80% of the vineyard with the balance devoted to Cabernet Franc. Vine age averages out at 40 years, planted at a fairly standard 6600 vines/ha and trained in a double Guyot fashion. Though not formally biodynamic, the vineyard management under Delbeck included homeopathic treatments and summer pruning by the phases of the moon. The entirely manual harvested fruit is fermented by indigenous yeasts. This takes place in stainless steel, which replaced the wooden vats in 1980. Once finished, the wine goes into oak, 50% new each vintage, for up to 26 months before bottling without fining or filtration.
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