Château Belair St Emilion Grand Cru Premier Grand Cru Classé 1964

A welcoming, gorgeously preserved 1964 with a ton of strawberry puree and soft plum fruit, shot through with smoked earth and white truffle, with peony fragrance and a cushion of air running underneath. We could be in mature Nebbiolo or Pinot Noir territory, so fine are the tannins, and it’s a wonderful reminder of how mature Merlot on the limestone plateau of St Emilion can be so singularly charming. One of the best years of the 1960s, with a clear quality preference to Right Bank rather than Left, and this particularly terroir was well placed to take advantage. Today known as Belair Monange, at the time owned by Dubois-Challon family, who had been in situ since 1916.