Château Belgrave: Tasting & Drinking
My first few encounters with the wines of Château Belgrave told me that there was promise here, and I found this to be contrary to the prevailing opinion at the time. The obvious conclusion was that the investment by Dourthe were making a difference, and critical opinion was yet to catch up . Having said that, in pure quality terms the wines still lagged behind their classed growth peers somewhat, especially with the broad improvements that have swept across the Médoc in recent years. Nevertheless, credit where credit is due, the wines here are much better than they once were.
In recent years the most convincing encounter has been with the 2010, unsurprising as this was one of the more benevolent vintages in recent years for Bordeaux. But a chance encounter with the 2005 vintage, tasted at ten years of age, showed that this was another vintage of fine quality. What is more, as the estate remains very much on the Bordeaux sidelines, overlooked by merchants and critics alike, the wines remain very good value. There are not many estates that match this description, especially when we are talking about a rarefied vintage such as 2005.
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