A solid wine for the vintage with dark fruit, chocolate and spice character. Full body, integrated and pretty tannin structure and a long and polished finish. Very fine indeed.

The 2012 Bellevue is a dark, inviting wine. Mocha, black cherries, leather and spice flesh out in a supple, open-knit Saint-Emilion. The 2012 is forward, mid-weight and gracious, all qualities that suggest it will offer its best drinking sooner rather than later. This is a strong showing from the Bellevue, which is now made under Hubert de Bouard's purview.

Now owned by a partnership of the Bouard and Lavaux families, this famous estate, sitting on the limestone outcrops of St.-Emilion, has produced a dense ruby/purple wine with unmistakable minerality and a medium to full body. It has a nice attractive, juicy, concentrated palate, with a certain tightness and austerity from the minerality and high tannins, but overall it is very impressively made and built for long-term cellaring. Forget it for 3-4 years and drink it over the following two decades. The final blend, tipping the scales at 13.8%, was 98% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc.

Under the same stable as Chateau Angelus, this is a densely textured wine, with powerful concentration from ripe Merlot. Full-bodied and intensely ripe.

This is alluring, with a well-melded mix of plum sauce, melted licorice and raspberry coulis flavors, carried by polished tannins and flowing through a graphite-edged finish. Very solid, with latent grip. Should cellar well.

A solid wine for the vintage with dark fruit, chocolate and spice character. Full body, integrated and pretty tannin structure and a long and polished finish. Very fine indeed.