Lovely juicy fruit with dried-berry, mushroom and plum character. Medium body, a dense center palate and a flavorful finish. Drink or hold.

The 2014 Bellefont Belcier has an opulent bouquet, quite glossy in its youth, baking powder tinged red cherry, blueberry and cassis fruit. The palate is ripe and rounded with fine acidity, nicely focused with plenty of tension and energy on the finish. Very fine, but this Saint Emilion needs time to just temper those aromatics. A second bottle was similar yet felt a little more raw on the finish, prompting me to dock a point.

This is ripe but fresh, with a little racy edge to the mix of damson plum, red cherry and raspberry coulis flavors, while light anise and singed apple wood accents fill in on the finish. Well done.