2022 Château Villa Bel-Air Blanc, Graves, Bordeaux
Critics reviews
The 2022 Blanc is a dense, powerful white with phenolic intensity that amplifies orchard fruit, sage and chamomile notes. This is a wine for the dinner table. Rich and a bit rustic, but good.
Drink 2023 - 2028
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (May 2023)
A blend of 57% Sémillon, 40% Sauvignon Blanc, and 3% Muscadelle, matured in 30% new barrels and 50% one-year barrels and then balanced in a stainless tank, the 2022 Villa Bel Air Blanc possesses a bright, lively bouquet with aromas of pear, menthol, spring flowers, and lemon. It is followed by a juicy, supple, seamless, fruity, and elegant palate. It has a long and fresh finish.
Drink now
Yohan Castaing, Wine Advocate (April 2023)
Fresh, bright and creamy. Medium-bodied, bright and vivid. Sliced lemon and apple.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (April 2023)
Harvest 24 - 26 August. Aged six months. Derenoncourt consultants.
Ripe fruit with herbal and toasted caramel, vanilla and macadamia nuances. It was softer than I was expecting, had less overt acidity, and was more weighty and creamy in terms of texture. It is comforting in the mouth with wet stone edges to the fruit but lacks a little buzz and thrill at this point. It is shy right now, not really shining, but clean and clear with purity to the green apple, pear, and peach fruit.
Drink 2024 - 2028
Georgina Hindle, Decanter.com (April 2023)
About this WINE
Chateau Villa Bel-Air
Château Villa Bel-Air is located in the Southern part of Graves, in the parish of Saint-Morillon, near La Brède. Villa Bel-Air's buildings have been listed as part of France's historical monuments and are a perfect illustration of the French Revolution period.
In 1988, the Cazes family, already owners of Châteaux Lynch-Bages and Les Ormes de Pez, bought Villa Bel-Air. Jean-Michel Cazes undertook an important programme of restoration and enlisted Daniel Llose (General Technical Manager for the Cazes family) and Guy Delestrac to improve the vineyards. The old parcels of land, which had been pulled out, were replanted and the property was equipped with a new drainage system.
The production at Villa Bel-Air is done with great care and the wines are traditionally fermented in stainless steel. After blending, the wines are oak aged for 12 to 15 months and each barrel is racked every three months. The wines produced are supple, elegant, well balanced and display luscious tannins.
Graves
Graves is the region which first established Bordeaux's wine reputation. Its wines were exported to England as early as the 12th century and Samuel Pepys drank Ho Bryan (sic) in London on 10th April, 1663.
The names Graves is derived from ‘gravel’ and the best soils are gravel-rich, mixed with sand and occasionally clay. Graves is larger in areas than the Médoc but produces only half the amount of wine. The best wines of Graves were initially classified in 1953 with this classification being confirmed in 1959.
Until 1987, this entire region, which runs immediately south of the city of Bordeaux until it reaches Sauternes, was known as the Graves and its entirety is still sometimes informally referred to as such, but from the 1986 vintage a new communal district was created within Graves, based on the districts of Pessac and Léognan, the first of which lies within the suburbs of the city.
Pessac-Léognan has the best soils of the region, very similar to those of the Médoc, although the depth of gravel is more variable, and contains all the Classed Growths of the region. Some of its great names, including Ch. Haut-Brion, even sit serenely and resolutely in Bordeaux's southern urban sprawl.
The climate is milder than to the north of the city, and the harvest can occur up to two weeks earlier. This gives the best wines a heady, rich and almost savoury character, laced with notes of tobacco, spice and leather. Further south, the soil is sandier with more clay, and the wines are lighter, fruity and suitable for earlier drinking.
Recommended Châteaux
Ch. Haut-Brion, Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion, Ch. Pape Clément, Ch. Haut-Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier, Ch. Larrivet Haut-Brion, Ch. Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Ch. La Garde, Villa Bel-Air.
Other Varieties
There are over 200 different grape varieties used in modern wine making (from a total of over 1000). Most lesser known blends and varieties are traditional to specific parts of the world.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
A blend of 57% Sémillon, 40% Sauvignon Blanc, and 3% Muscadelle, matured in 30% new barrels and 50% one-year barrels and then balanced in a stainless tank, the 2022 Villa Bel Air Blanc possesses a bright, lively bouquet with aromas of pear, menthol, spring flowers, and lemon. It is followed by a juicy, supple, seamless, fruity, and elegant palate. It has a long and fresh finish.
Drink now
Yohan Castaing, Wine Advocate (April 2023)
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