2009 Chateau Bellevue

[stefan]

OK, this is something of a (not April fool) joke, but the BD is demanding notes. I wandered into a wine store in Columbia MO while waiting to be picked up for dinner and decided to have a glass of something. Nothing at the bar looked interesting, so I opted for a half bottle of this little Lalande de Pomerol. The first demi was oxidized, but the second not noticeably so. The wine has a nasty nose that suggests damage, but the fruit is strong, the tannins soft, and the mouthfeel good. I have tasted very few '09s, but this experience suggests to me that it is indeed the strong vintage that critics say it is.

Alex, do you know of this wine?

[JimHow]

HWSRN rates it a 93.
Unless you're drinking the Belle-vue, in which He rates it a 91.

[stefan]

Nice April Fool joke, Jim.

[JimHow]

...

[JimHow]

Ah I see you said it is Lalande de Pomerol, not St. Emilion.

[Roel]

Hard to check out which is which with these Bellevues, Belle-Vues, Belgraves, Belairs and Bel-Airs these days..

[dstgolf]

I've had both the St Emillion and the Haut Medoc. Have not heard of or had a Lalonde de Pomerol Bellevue? Can there really be three wines spelled almost the same?? Thought two was enough. Certainly the first two are fine wines wine a preference townds the St Emillion version. Softer riper tannins at the moment and drinking better than the Haut-Medoc version.

[stefan]

I knew both the St Emilion and Haut-Medoc Bellevues but had never heard of the Lalande de Pomerol one. That is why I bought it. I doubt that The Great One has ever reviewed it.

[AKR]

There are a lot of bellevues and belairs.

2009 was a year when many smaller unreviewed (or at least unpublished) wines would have gotten imported, given that someone tasted them along the way, and the odds were in a good ripe year, that they were pleasurable.

Those are good bets to take a shot on in something by the glass or what not.

In the last week I've had 2 of 3 bottles be pretty good that were ordered in restaurants, that I knew nothing about, even with my phone and The Google. (11 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo from coop producer - good, 10 Aglianico from small producer - also good, can't remember vintage of a white Rueda - not so good)