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Wine Description
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, become one of the great symbols of the Médoc. Unusually for Bordeaux, it is built directly above the barrel cellars, enveloping its owners, who have lived here for over sixty years, in the sumptuous aromas of their wine.
Today, the estate is managed by the company Jean Eugène Borie SA, which is owned by Mrs Borie, her daughter Sabine Coiffe and her son Bruno-Eugène, CEO since 2003, the third generation of the Borie family to head the estate.
There are very close links between this estate and the five families who have been its successive owners.
The grapes are all harvested manually. They are sorted in the vines on mobile tables to avoid contact between unhealthy and healthy grapes during transport to the vat room.The vinification of each plot is done individually to optimise the choice of blends. Moreover, the fermentations are carried out separately and customized to take account of terroir, grape variety and vintage characteristics. We generally operate gentle extraction and keep the must at traditional temperatures with moderate lengths and frequencies of pumping-over.The press drains off continuously into barrels to facilitate the selection of the press-wine batches. Malolactic fermentation is managed in vats for optimal control.
The wine is barrelled in duly identified individual batches immediately after malolactic fermentation. Blending takes place during the first racking operation; for Ducru Beaucaillou, between 50 and 80% of new barrels are used according to the richness of the vintage. The barrels (225L Bordeaux barrels, French oak) are supplied by 5 carefully selected cooperages giving every guarantee. The wine is matured for 18 months in accordance with Medoc traditions for classified growths. Bottling is performed with special care in regard to both oenological controls and homogenisation of the overall batch. The 5 cork makers supplying the estate have signed a detailed and stringent quality charter.
Wine Information
What was up in the vineyard?
WEATHER CONDITIONS: The growth cycle started favourably under good climatic conditions. The weather during the flowering was mitigated, but the vineyards afterwards benefited from an exceptional summer and a perfect late summer.
Better say it now: the climate in 2010 was almost akin to the one that forged such mythical vintages as 2009, 2005, 2000, and even 1982, 1961 or 1945.
HIGHLIGHTS:
THE HARVEST: perfect grapes
The harvest started with the picking of the Merlots on the 29th of September and ended on the 14th of October with that of the last Cabernet Sauvignons. After all the mixed berry-sized clusters (especially the merlots due to poor flowering) were eliminated in the vineyard, only perfect fruit was brought into the cellars. The berries, ideally matured and perfectly wholesome, were famously small, sweet to the extreme, and tasty at will. The skins were firm and very ripe, and the relatively small pips reached a fair level of maturity.
The 2010 Ducru-Beaucaillou distinguishes itself from its forebears by an analytical richness never equalled so far at the estate. Although it is as fleshy as its predecessor, it is slightly more stretched and structured. It is above all a high caste wine. Powerfully concentrated, noble and elegant, it is luscious, and endowed with a near infinite persistence. It is a wine that, without ever faltering, accompanies you throughout a tasting entirely dedicated to suavity.
2010 Vintage report - 2 -
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 2010
The 2010 Ducru-Beaucaillou is composed of • 90% Cabernet Sauvignon •10% Merlot.
Tasting notes – 15th March 2011 Colour: profound dark violet robe
Nose: notes of black fruits with a hint of spices. On the palate: round and luscious, with an imposing structure, fleshy but nicely buttressed
by acidity. Velvety and suave tannins.
Finish fleshy and impressively persistent.
This wine rebounds constantly during the course of the tasting and seems never inclined to let go. Consider it as a good companion who, without ever faltering, takes you by the hand and walks pleasantly by your side up to the frontiers of the sublime and perhaps even beyond!
Vintage 2010
Drought and cool temperatures contribute to optimal ripeness
The sum of summer temperatures in 2010 was close to that of summer 2009 (962°C compared to 982°C), but significantly colder than those of 2005, which totaled 1052°C. These cool temperatures had a substantial influence on the balance of our wines, preserving a good level of acidity and an attractive aromatic freshness.
Very little precipitation (only 267 mm) from March to August 2010 generating a drought of similar intensity to that of 2005, when only 227 mm of rain fell.
Another characteristic of the 2010 vintage is the low temperatures especially during the first three weeks of August, which allowed good acidity levels to be preserved in the grapes while maintaining an attractive aromatic freshness.
