The French red the world should know more about
- 92 pts Decanter World Wine Awards92 pts DWWA
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2019 Chateau Bellevue La Foret Fronton 750 ml
| $20 | per bottle | |
- Curated by unrivaled experts
- Choose your delivery date
- Temperature controlled shipping options
- Get credited back if a wine fails to impress
Just Mastering a Rare Grape Over Here
We’d come from the Médoc, home of stately, ageworthy, world-famous reds. We were headed toward the Roussillon, home of inky tooth-stainers so ripe and dark that they seem to suck in the surrounding light. But what they poured us with our cassoulet in Fronton… it was something different entirely. We never forgot it… but we hadn’t re-lived it until we tasted the Château Bellevue La Forêt.
A blend of the local Negrette grape and Syrah, the 2019 Bellevue La Forêt has all the sun-baked richness you expect from France’s Southwest. It’s deep ruby with garnet tinges, with lively aromas of blue fruit, toasted meats, thyme, sage, strawberry shortcake, fresh vanilla bean, blueberries, freshly-ground espresso, and violets. Built on juicy acidity and ripe tannins, the wine begs to be enjoyed on a cool night with roasted short ribs, grilled maitake mushrooms with balsamic glaze—or ideally a white-bean cassoulet with duck confit and saucisse de Toulouse.
Bellevue La Foret is just about all-in on Negrette, a grape variety you seldom see outside of Fronton. Fronton-labeled reds must comprise at least 35% Négrette, and Bellevue La Fôret has 57 hectares of it—which gives them nearly 5% of the Négrette in all of France! Négrette wines, according to the Oxford Companion to Wine, are “supple, perfumed, and flirtatious” compared to their rustic Tannat-dominated counterparts.
Philip Grant, having fallen in love with Château Bellevue La Foret’s wines over the years, purchased the estate in 2008. His 2019 consists of 55% Négrette, 20% Syrah, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc. It’s fresh, elegant red that we’ve loved since that trip to France decades ago—a wine the world needs to know.