Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot St. Emilion 2010

The grapes were succulent, unusually concentrated and very ripe, with plenty of freshness in the pulp, thanks to low temperatures at night. The pips didn't taste at all bitter and smelt like roasted coffee. Wonderful nose with loads of dark chocolate, plums and some coffee. Opens up with orange peel, leather and vanilla. Full and round on palate with beautiful fruit and sweet polished tannins. Long and gorgeous with a really smooth texture.

A blend of 70% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Franc and 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine from a moderately sized vineyard was cropped at only 27.5 hectoliters per hectare and came in at 14.5% natural alcohol. The wine displays plenty of toasty oak and vanillin as well as some lead pencil shavings intermixed with cedar, black currants, cherry jam, chocolate and espresso. It is a relatively big, dense, full-bodied St.-Emilion that needs 5-6 years of cellaring and that should keep well for up to two decades