Chateau Belair-Monange St. Emilion Bordeaux, Complete Guide

 

Learn everything about Chateau Belair-Monange St. Emilion, Premier Grand Cru Classe B with wine tasting notes, and wine with food pairing tips. Learn all the best vintages, the history of the property, and information on the vineyards and winemaking. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Chateau Belair-Monange History, Overview

Chateau Belair-Monange has a long history in the region. It was originally cultivated by the Ancient Romans. Skipping ahead about two millennia, what eventually became known as Chateau Belair and later Chateau Belair-Monange was created by Robert de Knollys during the mid to late 1300s. If you are lucky enough to visit the property, there is an ancient, stone staircase remaining from the 11th century.

Like many Bordeaux properties, the vineyards were confiscated during the French Revolution. The Canolle family was able to reclaim their estate in 1802. To celebrate this achievement, they bottled and sold their wine, becoming perhaps the first winery in Saint Emilion to bottle their own wine. They maintained ownership of Chateau Belair until 1916.

Edouard Dubois Challon, the head of the family that owned the neighboring estate, Chateau Ausone purchased the vineyard. Due to the attack of phylloxera and continuous neglect, Chateau Belair eventually lapsed into a dilapidated condition at the time of their purchase.

The Challon family renovated the estate from the ground up, including the vineyards, cellars, and wine-making facilities, of Chateau Belair.

As you have now read, Belair-Monange spent the first chapter of its life under the name of Chateau Belair. Before the estate was purchased by its current owners, Ets. Moueix, was managed by Pascal Delbeck. Pascal Delbeck, who began in his official capacity at Chateau Belair in 1975 was at the same in charge of Chateau Ausone.

During the Delbeck era, many tasters felt the wines of Chateau Belair as well as those being produced at Chateau Ausone were not up the level that they should have been for their terroir.

In 2003, following the death of Helyett Dubois-Challon, Pascal Delbeck sold 30% of his shares of Chateau Belair to Ets. Moueix. In 2008, the remaining portion of Chateau Belair was sold to Ets. Moueix. Following the sale, Chateau Belair ceased to exist as the name was quickly changed to Belair-Monange.

Belair-Monange was chosen by Christian Moueix in the memory of Anne-Adele Monange. Anne-Adele Monange is the mother of Jean-Pierre Moueix and the grandmother of Christian Moueix and of course the great grandmother of Edouard Moueix. Anne-Adele Monange was the first woman from the Moueix family to settle in the village of Saint Emilion. This took place in 1931.

2008 was the first vintage where the Moueix family was completely in charge of the vineyards, winemaking, and marketing. It was also the vintage for the debut of their new label, displaying the newly christened Belair-Monange name and logo on the label. More importantly, it was also the first strong wine produced at the property in decades.

Chateau Belair Monange increased the size of their vineyards following the 2012 Classification of Saint Emilion. At that time, Chateau Magdelaine was officially merged into Belair-Monange, creating an even larger estate.

Following the merging of both vineyards, Chateau Belair-Monange embarked on extensive work in their underground limestone caves and quarries. The work demanded creating and installing a new series of pillars and belts that were required to continue to provide support for the limestone caves. The construction was completed in 2016.

Belair-Monange made a major leap in progress when the team from Ets. Moueix began producing the wine in 2008 after taking control of the property from Patrick Delbeck. Today, Edouard Moueix is in charge of Belair-Monange. Under the direction of Edouard Moueix and Christian Moueix, the wines have displayed a marked improvement.

There are multiple reasons for this starting with conducting more stringent selection in the vineyard and reducing yields and perhaps more importantly, they also began picking later.

This allowed for harvesting riper fruit. Another change took place in 2009 when they began using optical sorting. Tasting the wines from Chateau Belair-Monange shows that dividends are already paying off.

Belair-Monange is now much fleshier, richer, and more concentrated than it was under the previous owners. A slow plan to replant the vineyards was also recently put in place. The goal is for this to take place over the next two decades.

Chateau Belair-Monange Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The 23.5-hectare vineyard of Belair-Monange, located just outside the village of St. Emilion is planted to 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. This shows a large increase in the size of the vineyard and you also find more Merlot and less Cabernet Franc planted here.

Once the Moueix family took over, they removed the few, remaining old vines of Malbec and Petit Verdot. They also instituted a vast, replanting program.

The terroir is a blend of limestone on the plateau and top terrace, with clay and limestone on the slopes in their soils. The vineyard can be divided into 3 sections with vines on the plateau, slopes and terraces.

Their best terroir is perfectly situated on the peak of the limestone plateau which rises to 88 meters in elevation. Over 1/3 of the vineyard is on the plateau, with the remainder of their vines on the hillsides and terraces.

The vines are on average, 40 years of age. However, they have old vines. Some of their oldest vines are close to 70 years of age as they were planted in the early 1950s and 1930s. They even have a small selection in some parcels with some of the oldest vines in the Right Bank, as they own vines that were planted in 1900!

The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 6,600 vines per hectare, though new plantings of Cabernet are at 7,400 vines per hectare.
 
For the production of the wine at Chateau Belair-Monange, two laser sorting tables have been in use since 2009. They also utilize optical sorting. For the vinification, the winery uses thermoregulated concrete vats. In 2004, they added stainless tanks to the vinification cellars.

They do not do bleedings of the vats to increase concentration. Malolactic fermentation is done in the vat. The press wine obtained from the vertical basket presses is added or not during the elevage, and before the final blending.

The wine is aged in an average of 50% new, French oak barrels for up to 18 months, prior to bottling. There is a second wine, Annonce de Belair-Monange which was created starting with the 2014 vintage. There is a third wine, Haut Roc Blanquant. Chateau Belair-Monange produces on average, close to 9,000 cases of wine per year.

The Best Vintages of Chateau Belair-Monange are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010 and 2009. Older vintages, sold under the name of Chateau Belair are very, firm, old, classic, leaner styles of wine.

When to Drink Chateau Belair-Monange, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Chateau Belair-Monange is much better with at least 10-15 years of aging in good vintages. Young vintages can be decanted for 2-3 hours or more.

This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume. Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment. Chateau Belair-Monange offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 10-35 years of age after the vintage.

Serving Chateau Belair-Monange with Wine, and Food Pairing Tips

Chateau Belair-Monange is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.

Chateau Belair Monange is best served with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes. Chateau Belair-Monange is a perfect match with Asian dishes, hearty fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta as well as cheese.

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