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Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou 1961

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, Bordeaux, France

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Bordeaux France
  • 99
    Points
  • The 316 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 16 Pros of
    16 recommend
    this wine
252 99
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    269

  • Producer ranking ?

    8

  • Decanting time

    2h

  • When to drink

    Now

  • Food Pairing

    Beef

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The Story

Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou is named after the beautiful, large stones found in its unique wine-growing terroir. This exceptional ecosystem produces fine, elegant, tasty wines, with a long finish – in short, archetypal Saint-Julien wines.

Perched on an exceptional site with incomparable views over the Gironde estuary, in the centre of a hundred-year-old park, Ducru-Beaucaillou is a majestic, Victorian-style castle, which has, over time, becom...

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Wine Information

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou : Our 1961 vintage

Château Tasting notes Quality: ****** The colour is very deep, very rich and intense. The nose displays complex crystallized aromas. The mouth is amazing: full of fruits, very structured, exceptionally concentrated and very well-balanced. The tannins are soft and the finish is fresh and endless. A monumental wine which is still not fully mature.

Characteristics of vintage 1961 The weather The ...

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Vintage 1961

1961 - the greatest Bordeaux vintage of all time?

I am writing this during the primeur campaign and I notice that Bordeaux château owners and merchants have been exceptionally quiet this year. I've been following this part of the market remotely for almost 30 years now and have been told about a lot of the "vintages of the century". Once wines are bottled and sold or vice versa, as is the case in Bordeaux, these claims tend to be changed.

...

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Tasting note

color

Deep

nose

Intense

Written Notes

The decanted bottle – thoroughly enjoyed but nowhere near the quality of the first one, the non-decanted effort. This was more blocky, not as generous. Old earth, possibly tiring. Still lots to like and offering good flavours but one that should have been drunk a little sooner, perhaps. One feels it may have received more love if it had not been on at the same time as the much better bottle.
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  • 91p

 A stunning example that hit all of its marks, starting with its haunting perfume loaded with tobacco, mushrooms, cedar chest, leather, currants, mint leaf, and cherries. Full-bodied, concentrated, and balanced perfectly between its regal character and layers of still vibrant, earthy, ripe, red fruits. The finish stuck its mark with close to 60 seconds of pleasure in every sip. A good bottle is a majestic tasting experience. Drink from 2023-2035.

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  • 99p

Tasted in November 2022. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 5% Cabernet Franc. It had an exciting nose of blackcurrants with some flavors of tobacco, graphite, and red meat thrown in the mix, superbly refined and complex, with great elegance and balance. Perfectly balanced with a persistent finish. A great bottle to taste!

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  • 94p

The 1961 Ducru Beaucaillou is a vintage that I have tasted on a dozen occasions over the years and, although nowadays it can vary bottle to bottle, it remains a formidably Saint-Julien. It shows just a thin circle of bricking commensurate with its age, quite deep at its core. The bouquet is vigorous and enticing with black fruit, autumn leaves, black truffle and, evidenced on this particular bottle, a light ferrous/rusty piping scent. The palate is structured and dense. This has always been a swarthy and muscular Ducru-Beaucaillou, extremely focused and, whilst not displaying the finesse of its peers, there is something aristocratic and deeply impressive. It will clearly give another two decades of drinking pleasure. Tasted blind at La Trompette.

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  • 96p

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 1961 was opened and decanted 20 minutes before we began. The fading brick red color gave away the wine’s age. It offered an surprisingly robust, perfumed nose. A little sweet fruit framed by plenty of spice, earth and leather. Later on, tobacco notes emerged and eventually dominated. On the palate, the wine was a silky seductress, showing black cherry fruit entwined with spice, leather and a bit of earthy ‘barnyard’. Very silky and smooth with surprising body. It held up well even after two hours of air time. It might have lasted longer too, but I couldn’t keep my hands off the glass! Remarkable balance. It had all the elements in seamless glory. A classic mature Bordeaux. Very, very special.

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This is a wonderful wine – the power and concentration of the vintage coupled with the elegance and complexity of Ducru Beaucaillou. It is ready to drink now but well stored bottles will last for many years still. Give it ½ hours decanting time.
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  • 96p
Good looking normal size bottle. Colour is deep. On the nose it is intense.
- (Tasting note created by Tb's AI)
  • 96p
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Information

Origin

St.Julien, Bordeaux
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